The Last Protector
by Wolveyaon
Summary: Chezarin Dracos was a 21 year old...well it was hard to say with being half human, she had been running from her past and yet now she was being asked to join a group of young adults who were saving the world. 7 years was a long time to be alone, maybe she could find some clarity in her life with this group of odd balls. Rated T but may change it to M later
1. Prolog

AN: Hello all, to thoughts that know me, yes I am still alive my muse just went MIA for about 3 years but came bat at 2 am last night. To thoughts that don't know me...hellooooo! Thank you for taking the time to read this, its just a backstory to my character, the next chapter will have her interacting and all that jazz, that is if I continue. It is a very out there idea but this story has been festering in my mind since after I finished watching Battle Force 5 all thoughts years ago. So I do want to hear your thoughts of this idea in the reviews please and any advice you can give me to improve would be very helpful as well. Now Enjoy the prolog!

It began at the beginning of their creation. The Sentients were created a very long time ago when the universe was still young and the miltiverse wasn't even an idea. During that creation another race began as well, the guardian race. Though they have been called many names, protectors, shifters, guardians, the humans called them Dragons. Natural shape shifters they took on the shape of whichever race they decided to protect, but when it was time to protect their chosens they transformed into the great fire breathing creatures that remain in the myths we speak of today. Early on, they discovered that though they were immortal beings when in their dragon form, when they were in their protected shape they took on more than just that shape but also their basic needs. Thought they remained immortal in either shape, they could still die as all living creatures could, more vulnerable when they did not have the scales protecting them.

The dragons were powerful, able to travel from planet to planet with ease, able to breathe fire and had the strength of 10 goliaths. Most revered them as fierce protectors and honored thoughts who had one of the might guardians as their ally. But some saw them as a way to gain power.

Krytis, leader of the red Sentients, was one of thoughts beings. He found a way to take control of the powerful protectors body and make them do heinous crimes in his name. Most of the time the dragon could not get free and as a result was killed to stop it from hurting others until there were none left, or so most thought.

One dragon, one young dragon had escaped while his family kept Krytis occupied. Just come of age, 23 human years old, he fled to a small blue and green planet that would one day be called earth. When he landed he discovered that there were the beginnings of life, little reptilian creatures with scales like his ran around the ground. He decided to stay on this planet until his family came to get him. But they never did, for billions of years he remained on the small young planet, even after nearly all life had been wiped out, he remained all alone in a world that was ever changing. Yes people that is right, this one dragon was the basis of our myths.

He observed many creatures come and go on the world, some big, some small. One particular creature that caught his interest was the homosapien. Fascinated by the way they learned at such a fast rate, he was captivated by their way of growing. He decided he would protect them and thus became the guardian of humanity. Though in the beginning he was worshiped as a god, over time the humans hunted him, becoming suspicions and resentful of something they could not understand. He loved the humans so much that he could not destroy them even though they disrespected his gift of protection, so he went into hiding, he became one of the humans and walked among thoughts he protected. He took the shape of a slender man with thick red hair and grey eyes.

Many years later, and many homes later, he settled down in a small town called Chelan Washington. There was a beautiful deep lake surrounded by small mountains, and around them there was open space where he knew he could fly and be his dragon self. He settle into the community around 1970 under the name Lance Dracos.

Twenty years later, on one of his flying trips he spotted something in the woods, something that made his heart stop. There in the middle of nowhere was a woman with shinning black hair lying still on the ground in shock. She was staring up at him, they made eye contact and something in Lance clicked, something on a level of his person he had never even known existed. He flew down to her and shifted into his human form in front of her. She had the most beautiful green eyes he had ever seen, as green as the old forests he remembered from so long ago. They didn't speak, they just stared at each other until she smiled at him. That smile was the end of his lonely life forever.

Years later, a family lived up in the outskirts of the town right on the edge of the lake and the forest. The Dracos's had become the heroes of the town. Lance and Layla had become firefighters to protect their town. They had had a little girl by the name of Chezarin, Lance's idea for the name. She was born with her father's wild flaming and curly red air hair and her mother's kind forest green eyes. They were afraid she would have been born like her father, in the shape of a dragon, so her mother delivered her in their house with no help except for Lance. She was born in the shape of a human, this tiny little life that shared both her mother and her father. Lance's heart melted when she looked at him with her big innocent eyes. He then and there vowed that he would die protecting them.

Her father taught her everything he knew about the universe, about the history of the dragon race, about all of the races of the universe and the history of planet earth. She was so fascinated by the knowledge but promised her father she would not breath a word of it to anyone. He taught her what went into shifting from one shape to another, but no matter how hard she tried she could not. He told her it could be because she was not mature enough and her body still had to grow, he assured her she would be able to fly with him one day. The family loved each other with all their hearts and were always together, until the girl turned 14. This story is about how that girl became a woman, and a protector.


	2. Chapter 1

**Thank you all for reading this story, this chapter is the first part of the story. If there is anything I could improve on or anything you liked please review with your input!**

Chezarin had been traveling for the past 7 years. Well if she was being truthful with herself she wasn't traveling at all, she was running. She had been running from her past. Don't get her wrong it was a wonderful past, she had parents who loved her, she had friends who cared about her, her mother and father were heroes for what they did and she was even close friends with the officers and the firemen that kept the town safe and out of danger. But it had all changed when she was 14. That's the part of her past she was running from.

She found herself in Arizona, or was it California, she didn't know, all she knew thought was that it was hot, dry, and very flat. She missed her mountains and green forests, but with thoughts sight brought back memories. She was driving her old Honda Accord she had bought used up north. She wanted to keep driving but something happened and all of a sudden her car would not turn without her having to use all of her strength to turn the weal.

"Oh great, well this is going to cost money" she sighed to herself. She saw a dinner up ahead and rolled to a stop right after the turn off and parked her car on the side of the road. She got out to stretch her legs and groaned as a wave of hot, dry air invaded the sanctuary of her air conditioned car. She had on knee length denim shorts and a green t-shirt, both of them looked worn and to big on her, black conies and Wal-Mart sunglasses. That's one of the perks of being on the run, wearing whatever you could get cheep and for as long as it stayed together. She walked into the dinner and sighed as the cooler air touched her skin.

"Hello, welcome to Zeeks." a girl with brown hair and a pink polo shirt said with a smile. "My name is Grace, can I get you anything?"

"Thank you Grace but no, I was just driving threw and my car just...well I don't know what happened but all of a sudden I can't turn the wheel without having to put all my strength into it." She said in a small voice, she could tell that this was a small town because everyone was looking at her like she was an oddity.

"Well sounds like you need a mechanic. There aren't any professionals around, but I know Vert Wheeler would be able to fix it. He hasn't been taking many clients recently but tell him Grace sent you and he should be able to help. He is just down the road."

"Oh so the opposite of the way I was going, how far of a walk is it do you think?"

"Hmmmmmmm, maybe about 10 to 15 minutes, might want to take this" Grace said, handing her a bottle of cold water "Just in case."

"Thanks a lot, wish me luck" she said with a smile as she walked out of the dinner and back into the heat of the desert.

She walked down the road until she spotted a building with a racetrack next to it, she headed in the direction of the building knowing it looked like she was trespassing. She had done this a lot in her life, but had never done it when she wanted to be caught. The sooner she could get out of this small hot town the better. When she was about 50 feet from the opening of the building she hear the sound of vehicles racing around, she looked behind her and jumped, putting her hands in the hair. She was surrounded by 5 different vehicles, each a different color. The one in front was a red racing car and it was about a foot away from her.

She looked at the car, then looked again. She knew this kind of metal, it was a metal the Sentients created, her father had showed her a little bit during their training. She looked away at the thought of her father, her face becoming hard.

"Who are you! What are you doing here!" Asked the one from the red car. He hopped out and Chezarin blinked again. Her eyes when wide as she remembered a boy who looked just like him but with black hair and grey eyes jumping on her as she screamed at him to stop. Her body tensed as she shook her head and backed up, bumping into the purple car behind her. She looked up again, the blond had stopped and was staring at her. There on his shoulder was the Sentient mark for leader. What was going on?!

"Um, my name is Cheza, my car broke down next to Zeeks." she said, looking at all of the others hopping out of their vehicles. Each of them had a different Sentient mark on them. This was way to much to be coincidence. "Is one of you Vert Wheeler?"

"That would be me" The leader stated, looking at her, his posture was less threatening then before but he was still tense and observant, yup definitely a leader.

"Grace sent me, she said you are the only one in the town who would be able to look at my car."

"Well she is not far off. Vert has been fixing cars since he was a kid" The girl in green stated.

"Oh come on Vert, why don't you help the damsel in distress" The red head in purple stated behind her.

She looked down, she didn't like all of this attention. The one called Vert sighed.

"Fine I will help, but it's going to cost you 3 pizzas." He said, hopping back into his car while his teammates cheered. "Buster you come with me to tow the car, Stanford you come with me as well and bring her with." Vert said as he backed his car up and drove to Zeeks.

"My Lady" Stanford said in his British accent, offering her his hand. She smiled at him, shaking her head no as she climbed up and slid into the car with ease. He followed her and soon they were zooming off after their leader. "So love, where are you from? I would have remembered if there was another redhead in handlers corner."

"Oh you know, here and there." she said, looking out of the window.

"Here and there hu?" he asked in a skeptical voice. He didn't ask any more questions as the pulled up to her car. She quickly got out and walked over to her Honda.

"Wow, you have a lot of reading material." Said one of the drivers of the car called the buster. This one was big with a dark blue uniform.

"And a pillow and blanket, what do you do, live in your car?" This one was the smaller of the two with a more nasally voice.

"Pop the hood for me" Vert said. She unlocked the car and did as he asked.

"Yes I like to read, it's kind of an escape for me, and sometimes I have no choice but to sleep in my car, hence the pillow and the blanket." She answered the two. Both of them looked a bit taken aback with the new knowledge.

"What about your family and friends?" The larger asked.

"What does the damage look like?" she asked Vert, blatantly avoiding the question. She hoped they would take the hint. Apparently they did.

"The power steering is busted, I am going to have to order a new one which may take about a week to get here. Stanford will drive you to the motel so you can get a room for the time" He said as he closed the hood of the car and looked over at her. His watch beeped and a feminine voice came out of it saying something about a storm shock. "On second thought, let's get you to the garage, we have someplace to be right now." he said as everyone started getting into their cars after hooking up her car to the buster.

She hopped into Stanford's car and they drove back to the garage, dropped her and her car off, then drove away in a big hurry. She stared after them and then looked around the room. It looked like an ordinary garage but with all that she had seen and heard, she knew something else was going on. She trailed her hands on the walls which were warm from the sun until she came to a spot where it was cool to her hands. She pushed on the wall with all her mite but it didn't budge. About 15 minutes later the group came driving in cornered her, their vehicles transforming.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?! And don't play the lonely traveler facade this time!" the girl from the green car demanded, one of its tires hitting the ground to make her point.

"I am me and I was just driving threw the town when my car..." she began to explain when the purple car pulled out its cannons and pointed them strait at her.

"Should have known a beauty like you was too good to be true. Tell us the truth or the reverb blows you to smithereens!" Stanford yelled.

"Ok then answer me this, who are you and why do you have Sentient based tec and symbols on you?!" She demanded, stomping her foot.

"I knew it, she knows about the Sentients so she has to be working with Kalis or Zemerik!" Stanford yelled.

"WRONG!" She roared. "I would never work with thoughts dirty, murderous, back stabbing, ugly excuses of thinking beings I have ever had the displeasure of hearing about. My ancestors protected Sentients and other beings all over the multivers!" she said proudly.

"Battle force five wait! Stand down!" a feminine voice stated over the speakers.

"Sage, she was trying to break into the lower levels!" Vert yelled, his blades coming out, almost cutting her.

"STOP VERT! If she is who she says she is, she will not harm or betray use in any way. Please Cheza, I would like to speak with you" Said the voice as the wall behind her opened up. She hastily stepped back away from the blades, her heart racing as the floor dropped and she descended into a Sentient tec and repair hall. As the floor came down to the lowest level she was met with a floating blue, slightly transparent female creature. "Welcome Cheza, I am sage, last of the blue Sentient."

"A surviving Sentient?! But I thought they were all wiped out! How did you survive?!"

"Another time young protector. I had heard a rumor that there was a surviving guardian out somewhere in the multivers, but there was no solid proof. I am glad you are safe. How long have you been here?" Sage asked.

"Well, actually I was born here." she said with a week smile.

"Oh so your parents are guardians! Oh there is more than one thank the makers! Where are your parents?"

Chezarins smile feel faster than a ton of led bricks, memories flashed before her face. "Well it was just my father and he...he...he's..." she couldn't say it.

"Oh, I am so sorry Cheza. So your mother was human?"

"Yes. It was kind of love at first sight."

"Are you more dragon or human?"

"Human. I haven't been able to shift into a dragon."

"Still, from my scans of you, you do have the protectors spirit and heart, even if it is plagued by the past." Sage turned and extended her holographic computer screen. "Your blood scans also show the blood of the shifters which is also good. It could be that you have not come of age yet. Knowing that I have a very important question for you Cheza." Sage said, turning to face the newcomer. "Would you like to be a member of the battle force five?"


	3. Chapter 2

**I am so sorry this took so long to get up hear, I was just reading over it so I could edit it properly with new eyes. Now I know my character seams to have kind of a split personality but that will be explained later on in the story, its her conscious and subconscious battling with each other. Anyway have fun and enjoy, and please review and let me know what you think!**

"What?" She asked, very confused.

"The team of humans you meat are the battle force 5, protectors of the earth from the zark and the vandals, they go to battle zones and collect the battle keys to prevent the zark and the vandals from invading earth. I was asking if you wanted to be a part of the group." Sage asked.

"Why me? You know nothing about me."

"You personally no, but your ancestors yes. Your ancestors were a mighty race of loyal guardians with strength that equaled no other when the one they were protecting was in danger. I feel that is reason enough to have you become a 6th member. Besides, I know just as much about you as I did the rest of the battle force 5 when they arrived here."

"Wait Sage, I thought you said there were only 5 sentient chips." Agura said as she walked over to them. She and the rest of the group had using their own entrances to drive into the hub and park their cars. Usually they got to work on any last minute maintenance on their vehicles but they were curious of the person who knew about the miltivrs who had also never been to handlers corners before.

"Yes, 5 that worked. But there is a 6th that was given to me by the high council that will only activate when the peace keeper of the group arrives of their own free will, an access of events brings them to the aria and something happens for them to stay."

"Like a broken power steering" Vert said, leaning on his saber and observing them, mainly the new girl. He watched her with intense eyes that made her shrink and move uncomfortably. Even though his eyes were as blue as the spring sky after a downpour and not the gray of stormy clouds she was still cautious.

"How do you activate the chip?" Zoom asked, being the youngest he was the most curious.

"To activate the chip the peace keeper must offer a little of their life force which is different for each race." Sage explained

"What's the life force for humans?" Chezarin asked, trying hard not to flinch under the blue gaze.

"I believe it is blood for us" Sherman stated.

"That is correct Sherman, without your blood you would die, thus you need blood to stay alive. Your blood is your life force."

"I don't know, I mean I don't really belong here and I need to get on the move again."

"Why, are you running from something?" Vert asked.

"What if I am?" She asked quietly, not looking at him.

"Well then I say let her run, if she is in trouble we wouldn't want whoever is looking for her to come here and snoop around."

"Excuse me! Are you calling me a criminal?"

"No, but the evidence is piling up, besides, you said it not me. Your running, sometimes you sleep in your car, you have cloths that look like they were meant for Duddly Dersley, and it looks like you haven't even take care of yourself besides the occasional shower."

"Wow pretty observant of you Sherlock."

"Well I have to be if I want to keep my team and the world safe. Now what have you ever done besides run?"

"Whow Vert, what's with the hostility?" Zoom asked.

"Yah, everyone has their secrets Vert." Agura tried to reason with him.

"Not on my team."

"Oh yah I bet no one has secrets that they have never told anyone." She said skeptically rolling her eyes then backed up, her heart racing in panic as Vert glared at her.

"It is up to you Cheza, if you want to leave that's all right, but from what I know about the 6th member of the group is if they show up then it is going to get much harder for the world to remain safe." Sage said, then here eyes glowed. "I sense a storm shock approaching in 2 minutes."

"Hay I have an idea. Why don't you stay here and observe what we do Cheza. Then you can make your decision from that" Sherman said.

"That sounds like a good idea, thanks" She said with a smile as they all began to leave.

The battle zone they had entered looked like a world where an anime would be created centered around. Squid tentacles everywhere. It seemed like an easy battle zone, just get thru the tentacles without being touched, and go. It was easy, to easy in fact. It was so easy that the rest of the team seemed to let their guard down and just goof off. It looked like a lot of fun, racing each other to see who could get the key and shut down the battle zone first, and with the Cortez brothers commentary, it would have made for a fun show. The only problem was that this wasn't a show, this was an different world and they had a job to do. They weren't paying attention when they left Vert behind and locked him in the zone, but they got him out just in time, covered in squid goop. When he arrived back at the hub, he was not in a happy mood at all.

"Sooooooo, saving the earth." She said, looking at his car.

"Oh shut up, I will order your power steering part for your car, and I will fix it at no charge just to get you out of my town!" He yelled at her, crossed his arms, and slunk away.

Chezarin had pinned herself to the wall and was trying not to shake. Whenever Vert got mad or glared at her she couldn't help but see James from her childhood, and it scared her half to death. She shook her head and took a few deep breaths to calm herself down.

"Are you all right Chezarin, your pulse has increased to a dramatic level." Sage asked her.

"Yah I am fine, just bad memories catching up with me. Do you really feel like I am the peace keeper of this group?"

"I do, but the decision is up to you. The fist may be made up of five fingers, but it is the palm that unites them."

"Wow, very poetic Sage" Cheza complemented then she became quiet in thought. "I still don't know. I have been running for...quite some time. I am not use to being with others."

"You are human Cheza, and humans are happier with others."

"But I am also a protector."

"And yet protectors were found with others as well."

She stopped what she was about to say, she had never thought about it like that before. Her father had been alone for almost his entire life but he admitted he had not truly been happy until he became part of the humans.

"I...I..." She hesitated, being with people her age made her happy and yet it also scared her. What if she couldn't make friend, what if they learned of her past and rejected her, what if Vert always treated her like he was treating her now? She looked up when she heard honking from outside before the purple car drove into the hub. It was Stanford.

"Come on love, we are going to get some pizza from Zeeks, hop in" He said, patting his passenger seat.

"Well I can't really make a decision on an empty stomach." she smiled at Sage as she jumped into Stanford's car and they followed the much used road down to the dinner.

"Now remember love, our cover story is that we are test drivers for spectra motors."

"Duly noted." she said, trying not to laugh.

She sat in thought as they drove. On one hand, she was use to running. She had been running in one aspect or another for the last 7 years. Whenever she stayed somewhere for too long her history would catch up with her in some way and she hated remembering what she had lost and left behind. On the other hand...she had been running, and running meant being alone. As nice as it was not having to deal with some of the drama that came from having friends, she missed the comradery and the love that came with friendships. At night when she was alone, even if she was running, she would remember. When she had friends, they helped her to forget and made her laugh and smile. That was what she missed the most, and what helped make her decision.

"Hay welcome back, I see you met with the rest of Verts group. Will he help you?" Grace greeted as she walked in "Because if he won't you can be sure I will be having a talk with him."

"No its ok Grace, he's going to help, and his boss even asked me if I wanted to be an intern at the track. They want to test out a new car with a new driver and I have decided I like it here, hot as it is, so I am going to say yes."

"Perfect, now that you are going to be employed, we need to get you some better cloths. Agura, would you like to go on a shopping spree for your newest member some time?" Grace asked.

"Most definitely, let's see what she really looks like under all that loose fabric" Agura said, rubbing her hands together as the rest of the group was ordering pizza. They all ordered something different which made her remember something from when she was a child.

"You know up in Washington they had a hamburger pizza."

"Oh you have been to DC?" Stanford asked. "There is a club I was invited to DJ at over there."

"Yes I have, but I was talking about the other Washington, you know, State. Anyway, the pizza had the hamburger, and lettuce, pickles, tomato, mustered, and ketchup. It was surprisingly good."

"Eeeeewwwwww mustered on pizza? That's sick" Zoom said as he sipped from his soda.

"Meh to each their own. Does Sage have a kitchen down there or is the snack bar the only thing close to a kitchen we have?"

"Oh we have a fully loaded kitchen down there but not many of us can cook." Sherman said.

"Not like we have time. I have a gumbo recipe from my nana that I would love to make, but it takes time that we can never really count on" Agura said, sitting next to Chezarin then sighed before looking down at Chezarins clothing again. "We need to get you out of thoughts rags you call cloths and get you some nice clothes, shoes, underwear, bras. The bra you have on right now is not doing you justice I can tell you that. It looks like you have bigger knockers then I do."

"You're kidding right? It's too hot for a bra" She said, sipping her drink.

"Not the one I am thinking about, it's got fabric that stays cool even on the skin."

"Ok lets please not talk about that stuff in public" Spinner stated, covering his ears.

"Why not, after all its just clothing." Cheza said as if she was brushing off a complement.

"I think we are going to be very good friends." Agura said with a smile, putting her arm over Chezarins shoulders.

"Thanks, I want you to know my name is Chezarin Dracos" She said with a smile.

"Interesting last name love, what's your family tree look like?" Stanford asked looking intently at the other redhead.

"Not really ready to tell that just yet" she said with a shy smile. "Please excuse me" she said as she got up and headed to the bathroom.

"I like her, I think she is cute"

"You think every girl who doesn't call you on your bull is cute Stanford. I would like to have another girl on the team. Someone who knows what it's like to be a girl. I can picture it now, spending a few days in our pajamas, eating ice cream, watching movies and commiserating together. Ah female bonding is the best"

"She is very interesting, and the way Sage was talking about her is something special, something that ties them together in a way." Sherman stated scientifically.

"I think she would be a good member to the team. There is something about her, something that's off, not in a bad way but just not in a complete way. But I am worried about what Vert will say." Zoom said, putting his drink down.

"What do you mean little guy?" Spinner asked.

"Well you saw the way he acted towards her, and the way she reacted to him. She was afraid of him, it looked to be almost like a flash over her eyes, like she was remembering something."

"I know Vert is a little hot headed but the way he acted towards Chezarin was...well...not like him." Agura thought aloud.

"Maybe he feels threatened in some way. After all he is the leader and he feels it's his job to keep everyone safe, then out of nowhere Sage says that's going to be her job." Sherman spoke up.

"How is he feeling threatened by her? He is our leader, she is new and we know next to nothing about her."

"Exactly Stanford, we don't know anything about her. Vert is thinking worst case scenario, enemy in disguise...I think...sometimes it's hard to say." Sherman finished just as Vert was walking into the dinner.

"How long does it take to make a pizza, my butler could cook it in 5 minutes flat." Stanford whined.

"Vert, we're sorry for the way we acted."

"Chill guys, it's ok, after I finished washing all of the squid goop out of my hair I thought...relax Vert. once we do some team building exercises and once that Cheza leaves everything will be fine."

"Ooooooh, hate to burst your bubble Vert but I'm not going anywhere." She said, having listened to what he said it made her blood boil. Who did he think he was, judging her before he knew her. But in all honesty, she was surprised she sounded so confident even to herself.

"Come again?"

"I have decided that I am going to stay and help you out." she said, and to emphasis her point, she sat down next to Zoom with his team.

She could see the frustration blooming in his eyes and he was about to say something when all the food came out. They had ordered her a regular cheese pizza, not knowing what she liked. "Fine, but I will not be responsible for you in the battle zones. After you eat we will run through some battle plans, and you" he pointed to Cheza, who jumped a little bit. "You will go back to the base and get suited up."

"Sir yes Sir" she said as she finished her pizza quickly, along with Stanford, and they both drove back to the hub.

"Sorry about Vert, he's not normally like this."

"Don't worry Stanford, I heard Sherman's explanation. It's not an excuse to be a jerk though." she said as they made it to the garage, he dropped her off and then drove away.

She sighed, thinking that this may come back to bite her in the but later, but she had made up her mind. She stepped into the elevator and descended to were Sage was so she could give her the good news and officially become part of the battle force 5.


	4. Chapter 3

**I am sorry it has taken me over a month to post a chapter, this chapter only wanted to come to me in spurts. But I have finally finished it! So without further interruption of my rambling, here is chapter 4!**

"Chezarin, you are back" Sage said as she turned around and smiled, in her sentient way, at the redhead.

"Sage I have made my decision. I will join you." Cheza said as the elevator came to a stop.

"That was a quick decision, are you absolutely sure, maybe you need more time?" asked sage. "It is a big responsibility to be a peace keeper."

"I have thought about it, weighed the pros and cons. I like it when I have friends and feeling like I belong. Besides, my father protected the humans and this world, I think he would be proud that I am following in his footsteps." she said as she held onto her citrine necklace that her father had given her.

"I did not know your father, but I am sure he would be very proud. Now that you have decided it is time to suite you up and give your car and upgrade." Sage said, turning on her high tec computer. A few minutes later her car was in the hub and the scanners were going over it. "Before we begin we need to give life to the chip. Chezarin, your hand" Sage offered her hand, the chip in her other.

She stared at the chip that was in the shape of an octagon and grey looking with no symbol on it, and then at Sages hand. "Will it hurt?"

"Just a little prick, we just need one drop." Sage insured.

Chezarin placed her hand in sages and before she knew it with a little pinch on her finger there was a drop of blood landing on the chip. The drop landed on the chip, the red of it striking against the grey, before it began to glow and the blood seemed to be sucked into the chip. As the last little bit of blood vanished the main part of the chip glowed white and a shape in black appeared on the front before the glow died.

"The chip has been activated" Sage said as she inserted it into her computer. The scanners and mechanical arms started working harder after the chip was placed.

The small section of the floor that she had been standing on was elevating and other scanners were going over every inch of her. They continued for a few minutes, scanning everything before a strange feeling began to start down at her feet. It was like her cloths had become vacuum sealed with no space between the fabric and her skin, and it also felt cool to her hot skin. So looked down and gasped. Her clothes were changing into the kind of suit the others wore, the same general shape but different patterns. While most of the team had their marks on their shoulders or arms, she had hers on the back of her hands. Her suit was at the base white but the markings were black. It was rather striking to her. The suit showed off the fact that Agura had been right, she could no longer hid behind her baggy clothing. She had a nice shape from her shoulders all the way down to her calves, hips like Agura, her backside was a little bigger, and her breasts, now that they were being properly supported, were larger than average.

Once the suit had been completed the peace of floor descended back to ground level and she could see her car.

"Is that it?" she asked, a bit disappointed.

Her car looked no different than when it had been brought down except that it was white with black highlights and looked brand new.

"Yes this is it. It has been completely upgraded with the most advanced sentient tec in the multivers." Sage said, making notes on her computer. "But it is not finished yet, to complete your upgrade, you must name your vehicle."

Chezarin was walking around her new car. It didn't look any different except the color and that there had been some dents and scratches that were gone now. She sighed, hoping that at least it drove as well as the reverb did, and placed her hand on the hood of the car. At once there was a kind of shiver that the car made and almost like a wave of the cars outline had started from where her hand had been placed going out and within a few seconds her car had shifted from the Honda she had been use to too a black and white reverb.

"Wow...it shifted!" She exclaimed.

"Interesting. The upgrade was based off of your personality and preferences. It seems that our scanners picked up on the dual personalities within your DNA, your human and your protector personalities. Highly intriguing." Sage said, making more notes into her file.

"I think I will call him...The Shifter." she said with a smile. She could almost swear she felt some kind of connection click when she said the name.

"A logical choice. Now that you are all suited up I believe Vert had mentioned something about training."

"Yes, team building exercises I believe he mentioned. I will head there right now." she said with a smile and she hopped into the Shifter/Reverb.

She turned it on and sighed, her car was purring. She put it in drive and speed off. As she was launched out onto the flats she thought about taking her car for a fast spin, thinking about how fast Verts car was. She thought about the car, trying to remember if she knew its name and then it hit her, the Saber. Right as she thought about the cars name, her car did its funny shifting thing again, even within the car she was being moved mid drive as her car changed into a black and white Saber and speed down the flats.

"Oh YEAAAAAAAAAH! I have the best car in the world!" she screamed as she did some maneuvering around the flats. "Man I am going to need to really practice if I want to get down how to drive each car" she said to herself as she drove back to the garage. Before she got there though she had her car change back into the Honda, she wanted her cars abilities to be a surprise.

She rounded the corner to the track were everyone was. She parked her car and got out, sitting on her hood. Vert had been in the middle of explaining a new plan he had when she had come in.

Agura took one look at Cheza and smiled. "Yup I knew it. I knew you had bigger knockers then I did. We really need to go shopping now!"

As Agura was talking Vert kept his eyes averted, a slight blush on his face. He kept listing off names of his favorite baseball teams players and their best moves, anything to distract him from the female that had just arrived. "Are there going to be any more interruptions?" he asked.

"Not much of a change Love, still looks like the same car but new paint job and detailing. You on the otherhand look very different in a very good way." Stanford stated, winking at her. "So what did you name your car love?"

"The shifter." she said

"Eh."

"Why did you name it that?" Zoom asked.

"You will see, now I think our leader was going to explain something?" She looked over at him.

"As a matter of fact I was" he said turning back and pressing a button on his glasses that created a holographic board. "I call this the flying wedge."

"What's with the exes and ohs?" Zoom asked.

"Hugs and kisses. What are we going to do Vert, love the Zark to death" Spinner stated while his younger, larger brother rolled his eyes.

"As I was saying, I call it the flying wedge."

"I don't want to be wedged!" Spinner screeched before everyone started laughing.

"Guys this is our problem, we are not taking our job seriously! We keep goofing off and at some time if we keep it up someone is going to get seriously hurt!" Vert exclaimed.

"We don't have to worry about that, we have a protector with us." Spinner exclaimed and smiled at Cheza who kind of deflated.

"Please don't bring me into this Spinner. Until I get to know my team I don't think I will be that much of a protector so I think we should listen to Vert's plans." She said quietly.

"As I was saying...again, the flying wedge. Stanford, you have the key."

"Why does he always have the key" Zoom complained.

"What part of royalty do you not understand. Besides I think we should practice in a real battle zone."

"No Stanford, it's too dangerous. We need to practice in a safe and controlled environment. A real battle zone is too much to think about in the moment." Vert stated.

"Not if it's one we have already won, like tropical beach battle zone. Blue sky, white sand, calm breeze."

"YAH!" everyone agreed.

"Alright, tropical beach it is, but this is for training, not relaxing" Vert said as he got into his car and drove off. The rest of the team followed.

"OK Cheza, it's going to get a little ruff, just follow my lead and you will be ok." Agura said as the Tangler went ahead of her.

"Yes Commander" Cheza said, following her. They drove into the middle of the desert until they were sure there was no one who could spot them. The key was shot into mid air where it created a kind of blue hole in space. When she went threw she felt like she was speeding up even faster and launched threw a tunnel. "Holly crap! That, I was not expecting." she said as she got out of her car and looked around. "Um, if this is your idea of a tropical beach I have a few questions about your sanity." she said looking around.

There was no blue sky, no calm waved, not even sand. There was however water, falling from the sky and blanketing the buildings around them in constant moisture.

"We know this is not a beach, must have grabbed the wrong key." Stanford grumbled.

"This trip is for training, not for relaxing, besides this place will do just fine." Vert said as he looked around.

"Um Vert?"

"What is it Cheza." Vert sighed in annoyance.

"That doesn't look like part of this battle zone" She said pointing to a one wheeled clawed robot thing.

"That's because its not. It's a Zark" Vert said, jumping into his Saber.

"I thought you cleared this battle zone Vert" Agura exclaimed as she smashed one with her tier.

"That's the thing, I did." he said back. "Where is the key."

"I have it." Stanford stated before he was tripped and dropped it into the hands of one of the little Zark. "Well...I had it."

"We need to get it back otherwise we may be stuck in this battle zone forever!" Vert exclaimed at they took off, following the machine right into an entire murder of its little friends.

"They are like little cockroaches." Cheza stated, annoyed as they all scattered. Everyone rushed after different groups going in different directions. Cheza included. She transformed her car into the Tangler, almost loosing control because of how touchy the controls were on this beast, but managed to smash the Zark she had followed. "Hmm, no battle key." She thought to herself then saw something out of the corner of her eye. Vert was watching one of the Zark, and it had the battle key. She shifted her car into her Honda again and followed behind him into the building. "So what's the plan?"

"OK looks like I got the newbie as backup. Let's see what we are up against and then we can go from there." He stated, sounding a little miffed.

"Roger-dodger" She said, following a little ways behind him. She looked around at the building in amazement. "Wow this place is huge."

"Yes it is" Vert said, coming to the edge of the driveway. He got out and looked down. "What is this place." he asked out loud.

Cheza got out as well, looked down and looked around the place. There were moving arms putting things together. "I think that's an assembly line, and it looks like they are assembling more of thoughts robotic cockroaches." she said, pointing to what she was looking at.

"Your right. This is not good." He stated then looked to his right. There was a spiraling road going around the building that came together at a plateau overlooking the assembly-line. "The battle key" he pointed to the Zark that had it. It had stopped at the level part of the road below them and had released the key creating a portal, just like the portal she they had gone thru, before bowing before it. Threw the portal drove a dark grey and lightning blue car and from that car came "Zemerick, I should have known he would show his ugly face. You stay here, I am going to go and get the battle key." Vert said to Cheza before he jumped back into his car and drove off before she could say anything.

"Guess I have no other choice." she said, watching him drive down.

"Ah just as I remember it" Zemerick said in his metallic voice. "This is our path to victory. We have the key, prepare to attack!" he yelled to the portal. Just then, Vert appeared out of nowhere, took the key and was gone all in the blink of an eye. "Organic, you shall pay!" Zemerick yelled before driving after Vert and cornering him in a dead end. "You cannot win."

"That's what you said to me the last time I was here before...oh yah...I won" Vert sassed back. Cheza snickered, he could be sassy and funny when he wasn't being angry at her for no reason.

"Give me the battle key and I will allow you to witness the magnificently efficient Zark invasion of earth."

"Tempting offer chrome dome but I just can't see you and I hanging out together" Vert stated before his car elongated a little and the front of it turned into a sharp edge with rotating tires of a chain saw and a real chain saw out front from the center.

"Wow, I wonder if Shifter takes on the weapons too. Will have to test it out later, it looks so cool!" She exclaimed to herself.

Vert floored it threw the little bots, side swiped Zemerick and cut down a beam, making it fall on the Zark leaders car. "Later tin man!" Vert exclaimed as he drove out of the dead end, right into Zemericks other trap. As Vert drove up, Zemerick had broken off a section of the road, right above the trash compacters. Vert drove right into the trap and his car fell into the compacter without a way of getting out.

"A crushing defeat. I shall take the battle key" Zemerick said, taking his whip out and snagging the battle key from Verts car.

"My team will defeat you!"

"Team? You are incapable of acting like a team. Remember when I said I would let you watch the invasion? I lied" Zemerick stated and like that he drove off.

"Man, it's the classic bad guy leaves the hero to his doom." Cheza stated, getting back into her car and going threw her options. She looked thru each cars information and saw that the Tangler would have the best chance of stopping the walls from crushing Vert so he could get out. As she drove, her car shifted into the Tangler and she drove off the side, landing right above Vert. With the wheels she used the cars muscle to push the walls away, allowing the Saber to get some traction to escape before she jumped off.

"Thanks for saving me Agura, I would have been dead if you hadn't come along. Man where is the newbie, she should have jumped in. So much for being the teams peace keeper. By the way, why is your car black and white instead of green now?" Vert stated a little annoyed before watching the Tangler shift back into the black and white Honda.

"A simple thank you would have been enough instead of bashing one of your team members Vert." Cheza stated. "Especially after that newbie saved your hide."

"Vert come in Vert!"

"Sherman, man do you have perfect timing. Zemerick has the key, stop him from invading Earth!" He exclaimed just as the rest of his team drove up to where Zemerick was, knocking the key out of the portal and sending it down to Vert. "Well will you look at that." he said in a matter of fact voice.

Zemerick jumped down, knocking the battle key from Verts hands before the buster knocked Zemerick into a wall, the battle key flying back to Vert.

"We need to blow this place up so it can't make any more Zark. Then we pull together as a team to form the wedge to get out of this place!" Vert exclaimed.

"We are so outnumbered." Agura stated, crushing a few more Zark as Vert explained the plan.

Cheza smiled, Thought of the Reverb, and Shifter transformed into a black and white replica of Reverb. "Stanford, does your Reverb have a rear weapon?"

"Uh...yes."

"Perfect." Cheza said, turned Shifter around, and pulsated one large sonic base blast from the rear of her car, destroying all it its path.

"Spinner, do you have any concussion cartridges?" Vert asked.

"Like this?" he asked, taking one out. He went over to the middle column and set it up. "Ok we have 60 seconds before CABOOM!"

"Let's roll team" Vert yelled as he took off in the Saber; Tangler, Buster, and Shifter following close behind. They met up with Chopper and Reverb half way up.

"Stop them! DO NOT LET THEM ESCAPE!" Zemerick yelled from below. The remaining Zark began to build up a wall at the escape, blocking it. "A temporary setback, this war has just begun." Zemerick stated as he retreated into his own world before the place started going boom.

"You guys see what I see?" Vert asked.

"A bunch of Zark about to get wedgied?" Agura answered in mirth.

"Ok everyone let's do it, the flying wedge" Vert exclaimed, heading to the front and extending his blades. Everyone followed suite, Cheza changing her car into the Saber and extending her blades as well. "Pull thoughts tighty whites hard" Vert smiled as the collided threw the wall of Zark just as the place when up in flames. "Way to go team, now let's go home" He said, extending the battle key to make the portal to earth then closing it behind them and driving to Zeeks for a calibration feast of pizza.

Once they were settled in with their food, the questions started coming.

"Can your car change into any car?"

"Does it have weapons of its own?"

"Does it have a limit of how many cars it can shift into in a day?"

"Your car is like the coolest in the bunch!" Zoom stated with a big grin.

"Thanks Zoom, I love my Shifter too. I want to make sure I can use it to its fullest so can I talk to everyone about their vehicles, what it can do and how best to use it. It would really help so I am not learning on the fly."

"Sure that's not a problem. Talk to us any time you need." Agura stated with a smile and to the agreement of the rest of the team, all but Vert who looked very put out. "Though I will say this. Tomorrow, you me and Grace are going shopping."

"Oh dear" Cheza mumbled, looking with horror between the smiling faces of her female friends.

 **Nice long chapter! So please tell me what you think of the story! Let me know in the remarks! Love to all!**


	5. Chapter 4

**Hello hello everyone, I am back. I am so sorry it took this lone to get this chapter up, almost 3 months wow. Its been heck-tick with work and also I had been moving so I had no internet for a time but here we are. These kinds of chapters are the hardest for me really so i may skip a few of the episodes to get the story going. But anyway you are not here to yammer on, so have fun reading this chapter and tell me what you think!**

Before Cheza, Agura, and Grace could go on their shopping trip, today had to end. And it was turning into a long day indeed. About 36 minutes after they got back from one battle zone a new one opened. Sage sent the alarm out over their watches and they were running back into their cars.

"I hope we get back in time for open mike night." Spinner stated, writing down some of his better jokes, which wasn't saying much at the moment.

"Ok Cheza, this is going to be a little different. We are going to go up into something like a tornado and drive thru its eye when it appears. Again just stay close to us and you will be fine. Don't wipe out." Agura said over their come link.

"Rodger-dodger commander." Cheza said following them. Off in the distance she could see what appeared to be a blue tornado with lightning in it. "I am going to go out on a limb and say that's our storm shock."

"Pretty thick limb." Vert stated before putting the peddle to the meddle and speeding up into the twister.

"Wow this is getting bumpy." Cheza said, straining.

"It's going to be like this every time so you are going to have to get use to it." Vert said threw the com link.

"I know I just didn't expect it to be this rough." She said, her hands shaking a little with the turbulence before shooting threw the eye of the storm onto a crystal clear bridge in a new zone.

"Wow, nice ice sculptures." Stanford stated. There were towering pillars of sharp clear something.

"It's not ice, it's not cold enough for ice." Zoom said.

As Cheza passed by a pillar and the light passed threw it she saw a prism of colors. "Its because they are crystals. The shapes match up and also they have a prism affect when light passes threw them."

"She is right, all of this is made by quartz crystal." Sherman stated from the buster.

"Good to know, now what about the battle key." Stanford asked looking around.

"Zoom, you're up." Vert stated.

"All right, one chopper going up." Zoom said as the buster lowered its ramp to get the chopper in the air.

"So how do you fly it?" Cheza asked.

"Well there is a button on the side of the handlebars that extend the wheels. To turn you use the handlebars and these foot pedals in the back kind of like steering a horse."

"But with a flying motorcycle."

"Exactly."

"Aww our little Zoom, seams only yesterday he was making mud pies, wait that was yesterday." Spinner commented.

"Cool it everyone, enough with the jokes and explanations, we have company." Vert exclaimed just as another portal opened and 4 cars zoomed out, each fitting the riders needs. "Vandles 10 o'clock!"

"Extreme safari, my favorite!" Agura exclaimed as she drove after them, followed closely by Stanford and Vert.

"Take care of the newb Cortez brothers and follow Zoom."

"I do wish you would stop calling me that."

"Why, it's true, you are a newbie at this."

"Ok lets go Cheza, on the way we can explain how the buster works." Sherman said hurriedly as to prevent any fighting.

"Ok, belay on!"

They followed Zoom threw a few roads, all the way Spinner explaining how the buster worked and what to do and how to do it.

"So most of the combat operations are in the back?"

"Yup, you can fire the masse from the front but that's about it."

"Awwwww, to bad, well I guess I will use it if I have to use a little muscle but that's about it. My car may be able to change shape but I cant...yet." She said the last part in an undertone so no one could hear her.

They found the battle key inside a pillar of crystal, the buster used its masse to shatter it, shifter picked it up, and they all headed back to where the battle was.

Meanwhile back at the battle with the Vandles, Vert Agura and Stanford were keeping the mutated animals fairly busy and even holding up a conversation.

"I just don't get it Vert, what do you have against her." Agura asked as she smashed her Tangler agains Crockamotos vehicle.

"I don't have anything against her, I have something against the way she lived. She must be running from something and I don't want it to follow her here." Vert said as he ran into Calisis car.

"I'm sure she wouldn't have joined us if she was running from something that could physically follow her." Stanford replied as he kept Sever and Hatch busy with his repulser guns. "Besides Sage trusts her."

Vert seemed to growl over the link and he put more force then usual behind his attack.

"Are you perhaps jealous Vert?"

"No I am not, I just don't like that someone came in out of nowhere. Someone we have no clue about."

"Vert give it a rest. If you want I could ask her a few questions about her past during our shopping trip. Maybe it would help ease your mind about her?" Agura asked.

"That's a perfect idea. Try to find out the reason she is running and who or what from."

"I'm not a magician but I will try my best."

"We should let Vert know that we have the key." Cheza said.

"Yah why don't you tell him, after all you have the key." Zoom said as he drove right next to her.

"I don't want to bother him, he doesn't really like me after all."

"No that's not it. Vert is just a bit...well...he um...he feels...um..." Sherman tried to say something encouraging but came up with nothing.

"I am sure Vert is just trying to see where you will fit in, pushing your boundaries so to speak." Zoom chimed in.

"You think so?"

"Well I can't say for sure but..." He left the last bit hanging.

Cheza sighed as she turned on the come link for all of them. "Vert, we got the key, we are on our way back."

"Everyone back to the portal." Vert said as the Buster, Chopper, and Shifter zoomed right past the battle heading up the ramp back to earth with the Vandles nowhere in sight.

"I've got a good visual on the earth portal." Vert exclaimed having obtained the battle key from Cheza. "In fact clear as crystal."

"I see, cause we are in a crystal battle zone. Almost a joke, so can I use it?" Spinner asked over the come link when all the vehicles made a sharp turn, zoom almost falling of the ledge. "Oh close call for the kid."

"Don't call me a kid!"

"Sure little guy, hay anyone want to hear a joke?" Spinner asked to the combined no of his teammates even though it didn't stop him from telling it anyway. "I'm not saying Zooms a baby or anything, but that rattle in his chopper...it's a real rattle." Everyone groaned. "I will so dominate open mike night and Zeeks."

"Spinner, cut it, let's just get this battle key home." Vert said, sounding a bit exasperated. Kind of like the way he sounds every time he talks to Cheza.

"Got it, sorry Zoom. I will get you a big tall frosty drink when we get back, but I drop the line at burping yah."

"Spinner!" Zoom growled out before a large arrow wedged its way in his path. "whoa!"

"AMBUSH!" Vert exclaimed as a rain of arrows came falling over them.

"And they are gaining!" Cheza said from the back, turning her car into the Saber and speeding up. One of the larger arrows hit a pier, sending the top of it right thru the ledge.

"Guys we can't go thru the portal yet, not with the Vandles so close they would follow us threw! I'll draw them off!" Vert exclaimed.

"No I'll draw them off! Protect the battle key." Zoom volunteered.

"Hold on kid it's too dangerous!"

"Kid? You too." Zoom forced out.

"OK thump them then dump them then catch up to us." Vert reluctantly agreed as he accelerated.

"Good luck Zoom!" Cheza said as she passed Zoom going the other way.

"Thanks Cheza!"

The 5 cars drove thru the portal and landed on the other side. Vert got out and ran to the portal before waiting.

"Close the storm shock!" Stanford exclaimed.

"Not yet Zoom is still in there!" Vert exclaimed back. "Any time now. He's coming"

"Maybe the Vandles caught him." Sherman said.

After a few more moments of waiting Vert rushed back to the Saber. "I'm going back!" and he drove thru the storm shock before driving right back, Agura sealing the portal behind him.

"What did you see?" Agura asked.

"Trouble, no bridge, no Zoom, no signal." Vert worried as everyone looked at each other.

"This is terrible" Spinner said looking very sad indeed, maybe he felt sorry for making fun of Zoom. "Without Zoom, who am I going to make fun of at Zeeks open mike night?" Or maybe not. "Kidding, love the little guy."

"Ok think, what can we do." Vert said, still sitting in his car.

"Crazy kid, taking on the Vandles all by himself." Spinner stated as he began pacing. "Obviously got in over his head, which considering Zooms size probably happens every time he gets into the bathtub."

"Uh big bro, it's my job to keep you out of trouble."

"Yah?"

"I calculate, you've gone too far."

"Understatement of the year" Stanford said from the top of the Reverb.

"Hay all I did was make jokes about the kid being a kid."

"Which is why Zoom stayed behind, to prove himself." Agura said in defense of their scout.

"That's it I am going back" Vert said as he put his glasses back on.

"And we are going with you." Agura said

"Cheza, you stay back and go back to the hub."

"Vert you are going to need another scout, I am the only one who can get up in the air."

"FINE! Let's just go!" Vert exclaimed as he speed off. Cheza cringed a bit while Stanford and Agura looked at each other. They entered the battle zone and slid down the side of a crystal mountain that the portal had been sitting on.

"I think we just invented extreme car slalom." Stanford joked.

"Hay hay I will be telling the jokes here" Spinner defended.

"So we have to get from that rickety ramp to the top of the mountain to get home. It's doable but it's risky. That ramp can only take one vehicle at a time." Sherman said as he calculated the distance.

"Well if we have a way back then so do the Vandles, Sherman Spinner, we are going to follow Zooms beckon, see if he is there. Agura, Stanford, you keep the portal safe from the Vandles. Cheza, get in the sky and keep us posted."

"Yes Sir." She said as her Shifter changed into the Chopper, tacking the ramp the buster gave her and took off to scout the aria.

"Do I look like a Sir?"

"Shut it Vert, at lease she didn't call you ass. That's what I would have done by now." Agura said as she and Stanford headed to the ramp.

Cheza circled around and spotted that Calis was on the move. "Vert, Calis is on the move, no sign of Zoom anywhere."

"I will confront him, keep scouting for Zoom."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean he may be leading you into a trap."

"Just keep searching."

"Ok ok, I am searching." She said, a little annoyed at his tone with her. She saw that the Buster was heading back to the Tangler and Reverb. "Vert Calis is right around the corner, he is leading you into a trap!"

"FIND ZOOM!" Vert Shouted.

Exasperated Cheza left him alone and continued looking. "Um found him." She said in a slightly tense voice

"And the Vandles are on their way to the portal!" Agura exclaimed threw the link.

"Yup, and they have Zoom as their hood ornament!" Cheza exclaimed as she landed down next to Agura and Shifted back into her Honda.

"Evasive Maneuvers, we gata let them threw, then we keep on their tail!" Agura said as she did just that.

"How do we get him off of there!" Cheza exclaimed trying to get close enough to see but was being pushed back by Crockamoto. Sever got a taste of Stanford cannons while Hatch when flying after his failed stinger attack, Agura being the one to cut the line with the masse attached by the Buster with Tangler. As Agura closes in on Crockamoto, Calis comes out of nowhere and sends the Tangler off of its path, losing ground.

"Your friends are dropping like Vandalian rot flies!" Clais taunted Zoom as they continued on their way to the Earth portal. "So, we will enter your portal and your defenseless planet will be ours!"

"Do you ever stop talking!" Zoom exclaimed

Then out of nowhere the Saber flew overhead, landing right in front of the Vandles. Vert turned around, activating his blades, and looked like he was going to charge the Vandles before taking a right, flipping over, and cutting Zoom's chains, setting him free. It was Zoom's time to shine. After he got a large arrow from Calis's vehicle and blocked a throw of a rope, he jumped off, planting the arrow that was tied to the car by said rope into the crystal. The force of the shock sent Calis and his car spiraling around sending the other Vandlas over the cliff but bringing Zoom with them. His quick thinking saved him as he shoved the arrow into the side, stopping his decent, but by doing that it began the deterioration of the crystal mountain.

"Guys go without me! You've got to make it threw that portal, the hole place is coming down!" Zoom yelled.

"The lad makes a valid point there Vert, we could be stuck here forever." Stanford commented.

"We've got to hang together. Wait that's it! Everyone extend your winge cables!" Vert exclaimed with glee. "No man left behind."

"Wait Vert! I could get him, I have the Choppers capability!" Cheza said and Shifter changed to the Chopper.

"No we are doing this my way, you could cut him."

"Vert if we time it right she could fly under Zoom and catch him. I will calculate the time." Sherman said as Cheza flew up and took off. "Ok Zoom when I say go let go!"

"OK" Zoom said nervously.

Cheza began her arc under Zoom, just waiting, making room behind her.

"And...GO!" Sherman yelled.

Zoom let go, dropping like a rock, and landing on the back of Cheza's Shifter.

"Welcome aboard!" Cheza smiled as she ascended to the portal.

"Go thru the portal! We will meet you on the other side!" Agura yelled as she got back into her Tangler.

"OK!" Cheza yelled back and she continued to rise up and then went thru the portal. They waited for about 2 minutes before the rest of the group came thru and she sealed the storm shock. "Whew that was a close one."

"Welcome back Zoom." Vert said as he came over and gave him a noogie.

"Nice job Cheza" Agura said as they made their way back to the hub to fix up their cars. "Don't you agree Vert?"

"Yah sure." Vert said nonchalantly.

"Thanks for the bod of confadince." Cheza said.

"Hay I didn't ask you to be part of this."

"No you didn't, the one who created the battle force five did."

'Well you can leave at any time."

"And not help save the world, not a chance. I am doing something worthwhile, something my father always wanted me to do. Even if it means I have to deal with this abuse from you, I will honor his memory and help keep the Earth safe."

"Hay I am not abusing you!"

"Physically no, verbally borderline. I was training to be a psychologist online and to be a counselor. What your doing is degrading me, bringing me down and trying to make me feel like it's all my fault. Try all you want, you are not getting rid of me Vert Wheeler."

Verts response to that was to speed off onto the salt flats. He didn't even come back for open mike night which Zoom killed while Spinner was a dud.

"Ok tomorrow, you me and Grace are finally going shopping!" Agura exclaimed as they made their way back to the hub after the show was over. "It's time for you to see your room."

Once they pulled into the hub, Vert was cleaning up the Saber. He said hello to everyone except Cheza, which she didn't mind. Agura took her to the right while the other guys went to the left. "We have our own section all to ourselves. Don't even have to share a bathroom."

"Now that is nice." Cheza smiled. There was a door at the end of the all and two doors facing opposit each other, one was green, the other was black. Cheza went to the black door, opened it and smiled. The room was clean, her books and things from her care before were all put away. There was a floor length mirror in one corner to her left, to her right was a reading nook with a chair and table included, on the other side of the room in the left corner was a door leading she guessed to her closet and to the right was a bed, the first comfy bed she had seen in a while, her worn out Pajamas were laying on top of her blanket and her pillow was even there with some more pillows.

"It's not much but we can fill it up." Agura commented.

"I think its perfect."

"Well, you have a good sleep ok?"

"Ok thanks again" she said as she walked over to her bed, pressed a button on her com-link/watch that took off the shock suet and gave her back her normal cloths, then undressed and then put on her pajamas and hit the bed, sleep finding her before her head even hit the pillow.


	6. Chapter 5

**Hello hello I am back again, I changed the rating on the story because it talks about rape and also there are some adult scenes in this story so YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! So if I haven't scared you off by now, please enjoy the chapter and as always input is much valued!**

That night she had a dream of flying. It wasn't just flying in air like most people dream, she was flying with wings. The earth rushing by as she picked up speed. She knew she was dreaming but she swore she could feel the wind in her hair. She was flying over a lake she knew all too well, the very lake she learned to swim in. Just as she was remembering that time, the sky became dark and cloudy, thunder and lightning all around her. She saw up ahead, a figure with strong shoulders and arms. "Vert?" she called as the wind began to blow her every which way. The figure raised his hand and waved for her. She quickly followed, the storm becoming too much for her. As she came closer the figure become more and more clear. Strong legs, large hands, strong jaw, and...grey eyes. Her heart stopped as she tried to change direction but the wind was pushing her to the one person she hated in the entire universe. As quick as a flash, she was in her bed, 14 years old, naked with said person. "Don't worry, it always hurts the first time."

"NOOOOOO!" She screamed as she woke up in a strange bed. Her heart pounding as she looked around frantically. The memories coming back to her slowly from the previous day. The battle force 5, the new car, Sage, everything came back to her and she slumped back onto her bed and covered her face with her pillow.

"Cheza are you ok?" Agura's voice came from her door.

"Yah, just a bad dream."

"Well, if you need to sleep for a bit longer that's ok. I just heard screaming and thought I better make sure you were ok."

"Thanks Agura, I really appreciate it but I will be fine."

"Ok well breakfast is in about an hour. I am going to take a shower before heading over. It's on the same level as we are but you take a left when you come into the big meeting room."

"Ok, see you there." Cheza said as she sat up in her bed and stretched her back and arms. It had been a while since she had had that dream. "Maybe it's because Vert looks so much like him." she said to herself as she sat there and thought. Her memories usually didn't come out so fast, but this time they had. She sighed as she looked in her bed side table for her journal. She opened it and wrote down what had happened yesterday and her dream. She had made a point to write everything down so even though she may not remember them, she would always have a way to relive them.

After she finished she got up, got dressed and then put on her shock suit and went to the kitchen. Zoom and Sherman were there eating cereal.

"Well good morning, you are looking good." Sherman commented as she tied her hair up and went to the fridge. "There isn't much."

"Well I do see eggs and some cheese so I can make myself highly confused eggs...if it's ok." She asked hesitantly. She didn't know the rules of the hub yet.

"Is there a name on it?" Zoom asked.

"Uh, no."

"Then its free game."

"Ok" she said, taking a small bowl out of the lower cabinet, a frying pan, some butter, and a whisk as well as the cheese and the eggs. With one hand she was preparing the pan for the eggs and with the other she was cracking 3 eggs into the bowl. Once the pan was buttered and on the stove top heating, she started whisking the eggs until there were little bubbles in it, put some of the cheese in it and then placed it on the pan. She got a spatula from one of the drawers and began flipping the cooked side of the eggs until she had scrambled eggs that were light and fluffy. She put it on her plate, sprinkled the rest of the cheese on it, got a cup of water, and sat down.

"Wow love, you know your way around the kitchen." Stanford said from the table.

Cheza looked up and saw that everyone was now at the table. She hadn't noticed anyone else come in.

"Well, I do love to cook, and it's less money to get ingredients and make it yourself then going into a restaurant and paying for it." She said as she got comfortable and ate her eggs. She looked up and saw Vert staring at her. A flash of her nightmare came back to her, and she hastily looked down, quickly eating her food, then going to clean up her mess.

"Storm shock opening in 3 minutes." Sages voice came over the intercom.

"Oh great, first thing in the morning." Stanford said as he put his food down and ran with the rest of the Battle Force 5 to their cars.

"Quit your complaining and get your head in the game" Vert said as they drove out.

Cheza smiled as she saw the flats covered in water, almost making it look like it went on forever as sky and horizon met without limit.

"Now this sight is beautiful, it feels like we are flying."

"You should see it at night." Stanford said. "It was a nice little April shower last night."

"Storm shock dead ahead" Agura said as the tornado appeared from the sky.

This battle zone seemed more like a Childs play box, if the child was a giant who liked shapes, and the shapes could move on their own. They had meet with the Vandals and almost lost the key before the Cortez brothers had vaulted the Buster in front of Calis and stopped him in his tracks, thus allowing the Battle Force 5 to get the key and seal the portal to earth.

"Awesome moves back there, Cortez brothers crushed them!" Vert exclaimed as they celebrated their victory at Zeeks with some drinks.

"So Cheza, you ready for that makeover?" Grace said with a big smile.

"Well I am a bit apprehensive about it really. I never liked being stuck in the changing rooms."

"It's ok, we will ask for the bigger ones." Agura said.

"It's just going to be about another 15 minutes before I am off."

"Alright." Cheza said as she went back to her drink. Not even a minute goes by before their 'watches' go off signaling a storm shock.

"Oh no you don't" Grace said as Cheza got up to go. "We have a date."

"Yah Cheza, stay back for this one I am sure we would be ok without the newbie." Vert said over his shoulder.

"Man what a jerk, and to think I use to think he was cute." Grace said. "Well at least I know now."

"Don't mind him, but Cheza you should stay, we should be good. I do need to go though, so Grace." Agura said very seriously. "I leave her in your very capable hands, don't let me down. Oh and here Cheza, your Debit card, from the boss." Agura said, handing her a card and winking.

Cheza took it and watched as her team speed off. 10 minutes later Grace was just getting finished with her shift when Zoom came back in.

"What happened?" Cheza asked.

"I missed it." Zoom said as he slumped down in the seat opposite of Cheza.

"Why don't you come with us Zoom, we could always use another opinion." Grace said as she came out in her pink shirt and white pants.

"Sure why not." Zoom said as he got up and opened the door for them. "Ladies first."

"Thanks, what a gentlemen." Grace said with a flattering smile.

After about a 20 minute drive they had arrived in the next town at the mall. It was a larger mall with a lot of people, which made Cheza a little nervous.

"Don't worry Cheza, I got your back." Zoom said with a smile.

"Thanks Zoom, it helps." She said as they followed Grace into the mall and she navigated around it right to Nordstrom's and right next to it was Hot Topic as well as a few other smaller clothing stores.

"All right, let's get going!" Grace said with a smile. They spent 2 hours checking things out and having Cheza try things on. She felt better knowing Grace wouldn't push her to try things on that she didn't want to. She eventually let Grace dress her up a few times, saying no to the outfits except one very simple forest green dress she really liked. It looked very classy, almost like a 20's dress. She bought a few shoes, lots of underwear, shirts, a swim suit, jackets, practically a little of everything. She needed to go into Layn Briant to get a bra that would fit her properly, but they had plenty of styles to choose from. It seemed while she was changing Zoom and Grace were getting along quite well. He even told Cheza later on that he had asked Grace out to the movies and she had said yes. By the end her car was full with the three of them and all her new cloths. She had decided not to wear them home. She dropped Zoom and Grace of at Zeeks since the Chopper was still there and Grace had left her purrs in her locker as to not spend money. Cheza decided to head back to the hub to unpack all of her cloths. Once she was finished, she was sitting on the couch, her feet up on the table in her new slippers. They were Saint Bernards.

"Nice slippers." Spinner commented as the rest of the gang came into the hub. Their cars looking like they had had one hell of a battle.

"Thanks, I wanted to get them. Saint Bernards are my favorite dogs."

"Sloppy dogs for a sloppy person" Vert mumbled.

"Don't mind him, he's just mad because he doesn't want to admit that we could have really used you in the battle zone." Agura said, then smiled. "So are you going to show us what you got?"

"Sure." she said with a smile, getting up.

"How about we make it a show!" Stanford said.

"How about I just put on my favorite of the bunch." Cheza said in a rushed tone. "No show."

"Awww, poo. You are no fun." Stanford pouted.

Cheza smiled and disappeared down the girls hallway and went into her room. She got everything together and came to the edge of the light.

"Oh this is exciting." Agura said with a smile.

"You think watching someone come out in a new outfit...is...exciting." Very said slowly as Cheza came out into the light.

She had her hair down in their curls and had a headband with a feather in it that was yellow. She had on a green tank top, but over it was a black shirt with a skull on it with a red rose and it was long enough to go over her chest, leaving her waits bare. Hence the tank top. It fit snuggly over her chest and it was a little low cut to show off a hit if cleavage. The sleeves were baggy and they only connected at the shoulder and the elbow leaving a hole for the rest of the arm. Her pants were form fitting hip hugger jeans that were light washed out blue at the top but shaded to darker blue as they went down. They were also snug till the knee and then loose the rest of the way down. Her tank top neatly tucked into her jeans. Her shoes were black converse with red flames on them and on her hands were purple gloves without the fingers.

She turned in front of everyone. "Well, what do you think?"

"Holly crap, you look really good!" Spinner said.

"Fabulous girl, love it!" Agura complemented.

"Love, you and me have to stick together. We have fashion sense and together we could go places." Stanford flirted and winked at her.

"You have a color for each of us. That's very cool." Sherman said with a smile.

"I even got some hair care for curly hair so it won't be so frizzy." Cheza said with a smile.

Stanford got up and started circling her. "Yup, knew you had a good figure. Also a nice behind, round but not to firm if I could guess. Nice hips, my gran would call them birthing hips. God why didn't you dress like this before, you look downright amazing!"

"For the very reason you are doing right now. I don't want to be looked at like a piece of meat. Also I never want to stand out, and this makes me stand out. I also got some stuff for winter but since it is mid April I'm probably not going to need it yet."

Vert was staring at the girl in front of him. He could feel his heart race. She was everything physical he love about women, and he hated that. Not because he didn't like the breasts and hips, on the contrary he liked it very much. It was because 2 years ago he had sworn off fooling around with women until he found the one. When it was Agura he could ignore that itch that came with being near a beautiful woman, but with her it was a much stronger itch. One that was getting harder to ignore. When she looked at him with her large, vibrant forest eyes, he could feel every male instinct stand at attention, and he hated it. He hated that she could make him loose his control that he had had for so long. He turned and headed to his room so no one would see what he would need to take care of.

She saw their leaders face go dark, glaring at her before he turned and walked down the boys section of the sleeping quarters. Every hair and nerve on end when they made eye contact. She shivered as she saw his retreating form. This was going to be a long partnership.


	7. Chapter 6

**Hello hello my little ones! I am back, I have not abandoned this story, I have a few chapters written but I just haven't sat down and edited them. So here we are, tensions are high between our red hair girl and the blue eyes leader, lets see what happens next.**

And along time it was. Only a few months passed into the beginning of August, but it seemed like forever. And not because they were constantly fighting against the Vandals or the Zark, which they were, but because of the way she was treated by their leader. It seemed when she made a suggestion that might help, he would put her down, or when she did something to get one of the team members out of danger she would get yelled and or scolded by him. She had soon gotten over the fact that he looked so much like James but even if she had gotten over it she was still afraid when he would yell at her or scold her. Not to mention she kept having nightmares almost every night.

There was a time when Zoom had been poisoned and they had went to look for a special antidote on the Vandal home world when he had been especially snappish. Even though she had been the one to get the plant and help Sage make an antidote, when Zoom's heart had stopped he had turned on her and was yelling and accusing her of not trying hard enough and it was because of her that he was dead. He had brought her to tears at that point.

On the opposite side of things, they had entered a strange battle zone that was the exact opposite universe of their own where the Battle Force 5 were bad and they had met the good Calis. He had learned of what she was and praised her for her heritage. She also got to beat up the anti-Vert which was very satisfying to her even though she had totaled their Vert's Saber in the process on earth. She spent the day apologizing and fixing the Saber under his watchful eye.

Their partnership got really interesting when they went to a battle zone that was being controlled by Torz 10. The red Zark had pitched the Battle Force 5 against each other, though he had taken Vert and Cheza out for 'further testing'. When they had been put into the ring together and then used his agro ray to get them aggravated everyone expected them to tare each other apart, but they didn't. Cheza had thrown herself out of her car and was thrashing one the ground almost in agonizing pain while Vert Just drove his Saber around. Then when Torz 10 put Vert against his team including Cheza, she had protected him aggressively against the rest of the team. By the end, everyone had been confused while Cheza had passed out. Sage had been very concerned for her and put her in the sick bay to monitor her. When she had come to she had become recluse, not her normal smiling and happy self. She had confessed to Agura what had happened to her when she was 14, about her parents, about how she felt, about James. By the end of that conversation, both girls were crying. From then on Agura would scold Vert if he got too harsh with her.

After the battle where they had upgraded Sage, almost losing her to a virus. Cheza had tried something risky with Zemerick, almost hurting Sage in the process. They were back in the hub, Sage and their vehicles all upgraded.

"What were you thinking pulling a stunt like that! You could have gotten everyone hurt, you could have gotten Sage killed, YOU COULD HAVE LET THE ZARK INVATE EARTH!" Vert yelled at her.

"I am sorry, it was a good idea but badly executed. It won't happen again." She said, holding herself and not looking at him.

"Dam strait it won't, from now on you want to try something, you get my approval." Vert growled out.

"Excuse me?!" she said, placing her hands on her hips.

"Oh dear." Zoom said.

"Here it comes" Stanford said, taking cover.

"This has been building up for a while." Agura said, crossing her arms.

"That it has." Sage agreed.

"You heard me." Vert said, crossing his arms and staring down at her.

"Ok you know what, I have had it with your pompous attitude towards me. Whenever someone else makes a mistake you lightly talk to them to get their confidence back up. But when I make a mistake, oh my god it's like I committed treason or murder! You ream into me like I was in the fault. Well if you hadn't noticed, most of the things I do, I do to keep everyone safe and it works 90% of the time." She yelled at him.

"She's right Vert. If she hadn't been here we wouldn't be ether." Sherman said.

"Don't defend her. She almost lost Sage, the one who brought the Battle Force 5 together. Things were going fine until she came here."

"Oh my GOD can your ego get any bigger! Did you ever think that maybe I did what I did to gain your approval so that you would get off my ass!"

"No you did it because you wanted to and didn't think of the consequences of your actions!"

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN 'DIDNT THINK OF THE CONSAQUENTCES'! I am your protector, everything I do is to protect my team!"

"And you have been a pain in my ass ever since you joined. You think it's easy having the weight of the earth on my shoulders! Ever since you joined that weight seems to be getting heavier and heavier! It's been a nightmare since you joined!"

"Oh and you think it's been a walk in the park for me too, having to deal with you yelling at me all the time?"

"You know what, you can just shut your mouth you...you..." Vert hesitated.

"Don't do it, don't say it" Stanford whispered.

"You FUCKING BITCH!" Vert yelled at her before he was punched across the face, the force of which sending him off his feet.

"HOW DARE YOU! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I HAVE GONE THREW IN MY LIFE! I REFUSE TO BE TREATED LIKE I AM NOTHING!" She said and she jumped on him and hit him again. Vert turned them both over, pinning her under him, her leg twisting under him. He pinned her hands above her head with one had. She tried to struggle but she couldn't get her hands free, his grip was to strong. She looked up at him, he had brought his free hand up into a fist like he was about to punch her. She stared at him, her face defiant but her body trembling. He just sat there, staring, his face contorted before he was pulled up to his feet by Sherman.

"That...is...enough" Sage said, nearly yelling herself. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this but you both leave me with no other alternative. You are both put on probation and for the time being will be sent to a location where you will stay...together, until you can act civilly towards one another. If I find out that you have fought and hurt each other again I will expel you from Battle Force 5 and erase your memory."

They were sent to their rooms to pack. Cheza was quiet while Vert was complaining the entire time. She packed all of her summer clothing she had and headed back. Her wrists were hurting a little and she had a slight limp to her walk but she still went without complaint. She shouldn't have started the fist fight but he just got under her skin and she was tired of taking his abuse.

"You will be going to a place far from here. You will have lodging and you have cards for food, you will take Shifter." Sage said, placing a modified battle key on Shifter.

"What, and leave Saber here!"

"Yes Vert, what I say is final and the more you try to argue, the longer the sentence will be. Now then, we have ways of contacting you if we need you but until you can cooperate together you will remain there. Cheza I am sorry but there was no other option."

"What are you apologizing to me for."

"Unfortunately you will see, now get in and go." Sage said.

Vert and Cheza glared at each other, got into Shifter, and drove off.

"Are you sure sending her there is a good idea?" Agura asked.

"I do not know, but she needs to get over what happened in the past if she wants to move on. It is something we all must do at one point or another."

"This is all your fault you know."

"Yes Very, it's always my fault." Cheza growled out as the battle key shot out and she drove thru the portal.

Shifter landed on a gravel road with trees shading it from the sun above. Her heart stopped and plummeted as her foot came off the gas and she slowed. "No...no Sage anywhere but here, please." She whispered. They came around a corner and drove past the tree line onto a little aria of dirt with a dock house and several decks over a grand glittering lake with mountains jutting up that were covered in trees. 20 feet from the shore was a large cabin that looked like it hadn't been lived in in a while, but no plants grew over the wood or the deck and it still looked to be in very good shape.

"What is this place?"

"My childhood home." She whispered out, her eyes filling with tears. "Why would you do this to me Sage. You cruel bitch." She cried.

"Don't call her that! She had nowhere else to send us."

"But don't you see?! The last time I was here, my parents were dead and James did..." She stopped, remembering everything from that night. She felt sick to her stomach, her face going pail as she tried to keep the bile from rising up.

"Oh come on, it's not that bad. I lost my parents too and I still live at my childhood home." Vert said as he walked up to the house. It had large windows with the screens over them blocking the view. The front porch was covered by the roof and there was a bench swing to his right and the porch circled onto a large opened patio to his left. "looks like a nice place." he said as he placed his hand on the French door that was the front door. He was just about to open it When a gentle hand came over his, stopping him from opening it.

"Please." She whispered.

"What?"

"Please...I am begging you. Don't open that door...not yet. I can't bare the memories." She cried before she looked up at him, her eyes pleading with his.

When he saw her like that, tears running down her face, her eyes red and puffy and pleading almost pathetically, almost all the anger and resentment drained out of him. he had never seen her like this, like she was falling apart and almost shattered. It made him want to comfort her, collect her up and put her back together, and that thought brought some of his anger back. How dare she make him feel this way. "Fine, fine if you REALLY CANT go in there where else are we going to go?!" She pointed over to the dock house, her grief beyond words. "Fine." he said, walking back down the little path leading to the dock, and rounding the corner to the entrance.

Cheza collapsed on the ground as she silently sobbed for her past life. She promised herself she would not step foot back here until she was ready to face her past and stand tall with her new life. She was not ready to face it and it killed her inside.

Vert was opening the doors to the one room dock house. It looked old but well taken care of, hi chairs from the 60's with a table that met the height when you first opened the doors. the right wall was the kitchen with a stove and oven and a little bit of counter space with a fridge in the corner. To the left was a room that went back further then the kitchen/dining room. It had a futon and pictures of all the different places he expected were on the lake. In each picture was a woman with long black hair but her eyes and smile matched Cheza's. This must have been her mother. She had this kind of regale beauty about her that he couldn't blame Cheza's father for falling for her. The windows were large as well as to let in the light from outside and to the left he saw a ladder built into the wall that lead up to a loft that was about 3 feet from the high ceiling. It had mattresses up there with bedding. In the back of the big room there was a futon, an old radio, and an old TV/VCR with tables covered in nick-knacks and books. He climbed the ladder noticed that there were little windows up there and it was stuffy inside. He opened them then climbed down. "For being abandoned, this place sure is clean."

"That's probably because the fire fighters use it to stay if there is a fire further up the lake, so they can get some rest and be back in a short amount of time." Cheza said from the deck of the dock house, right outside the doors, Taking some rope and tying the doors opened. Looking at the dock house from the water, there were 3 posts keeping up a kind of wooded shading but leaving some space out on the edge for someone to sun bathe on. To the left there was a section of the dock that when down to the surface of the water being as the dock house over the water was about 2-3 feet above the water's surface. Past the deck there was an L dock connecting to the left side were a sloping dock was. Probably to bring in smaller boats. To the right, the little opened hallway they walked threw to get to where they were, was a boat house, complete with pulley and everything, but instead of a boat there was a raft suspended over the water. "Dad built this when he first met my mom. Since it was just them they were ok here but once the idea of kids care around he began to build the cabin."

"Wow your dad built all of this? That's impressive."

"Yah I know." She said as she walked out to the end of the deck. She took her keys and her phone out of her pockets and took off her shoes before diving right into the water fully clothed.

"What are you doing?!" Vert asked as she stood on the dock looking down at her.

"Its tradition when you have had a long vacation from the house, you jump in fully clothed." She said as she treaded water, looking up at him. She seemed to be feeling better, more at home in the water.

"Why is that?"

"No idea, maybe to reacquaint yourself with the water." she said before diving down under the water. It was cool and crisp, just like she remembered. The water so crystal clear you could see the bottom at least 30 feet below the surface. The water was about 12 feet down from the edge of the dock, so she dove to the bottom, the colder it got the further down she went, before shooting back up. The feel of her cloths brushing against her skin in the water brought back so many memories of her and her father doing this almost every day. She swam around the place before going under the dock to check the pipes and the boards, something her father always did at least once or twice a year. There was a ladder to the left near the wooded ramp that lead back to the deck and over at the end of the L dock there was also a ladder. Vert had descended to the lowered part of the Deck and was just sitting at the water's surface that was on the edge of the boat house.

"God this water is freezing." He said taking his bare foot out of the water.

"That's because its a glacier fead lake, that's why visibility is so clear."

"Oh, what are you doing?"

"Checking the pips and the boards, making sure they are sturdy and seeing if we need to replace anything...which doesn't look like we need to." she said, coming out from under the deck and placing her hands at the edge of the lower part and staring at him.

He looked at her, all wet, the part of her hair that was in the water was flowing like silken thread and shinning even more brightly under the water than normal. He took a deep breath, once again trying to control his natural reaction to this insufferably beautiful goddess in front of him. "So this is where you grew up hu?"

"Yes it is. I am sorry for that show back on the deck. I...I made a promise to myself that once I opened thoughts doors again I would face my past with my head held high. I am just not ready."

"Maybe that's why Sage sent us here in the first place."

"Hu?"

"Ya maybe she wants you to get over your past and move on, and maybe she wants me to help you."

Cheza snorted into the water. "You help me? Since when have you ever helped me?"

"Hay I am trying to make sense of this so you don't have another crying fit" Vert snapped back as he stood up, glaring down at her.

"I am just calling it as I see it" She answered back before submerging herself and swimming out to the end of the L dock.

Vert glared at her and stomped back into the dock house.

When Cheza resurfaces she pulled herself half way out of the water on the ladder at the L dock. The L dock was on the same level as the water, the bottom of it just touched the surface so when the waves hit it it made a nice splashing noise. The weight of her soaking wet cloths wanting to pull her back into the water, but she would have to get out anyway. The sun was going down and she would need to hang her cloths in the sun for them to dry. She got out, her cloths pouring water onto the deck as she walked over to where she had left her bag.

"Don't come around to the opened hallway. I am changing."

"Don't flatter yourself." Vert replied back, sitting on the futon. There were no windows on that side of the room, nor in the back facing the cabin. But that's not where the beauty of this place was. It was out on the lake as it glistened in the sunlight, shooting beams of light off the surface. 15 minutes later she came around the corner, her hair wrapped in a towle that was resting on her head, a light green tank top and booty shorts, not even a bra. Inside his mind Vert was drooling at the natural set of her breasts, outwardly he was glaring.

Cheza didn't knotis as she walked into the kitchen across the table and began pulling out meat patties for hamburgers. She turned the stove on and placed a frozen patty on it. "Anything you don't like on here?"

"Pickles and mustered."

"Oh I love pickles, though I don't like onions or mustered." she said as she began to cook, She pulled out the ketchup and mayonnaise, slices of cheese, lattice, and tomatoes, onions for him and pickles for her. She placed the patties on a bun and gave it to him so he could make his own.

They ate in silence just as the sun went down. Once finished they both went to their arias, Vert to the futon and Cheza to the loft. She waited until Vert seemed to be sleeping before she began to cry, very silently but her snuffling was not silent. She cried herself to sleep as Vert listened, still lying awake until the wee hours of the morning.

 **And another chapter completed! WOOT!**


	8. Chapter 7

**Hello everyone! And to all my American readers HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I am personally thankful for thoughts who take time to read my stories. This has been a very hard month on me and I am thankful also it is almost over, so please if you can send my mom some healing energy, keep her in your prayers. I have some of the chapters written out already so I will get them up as soon as I can. Now on with the story, and always please let me know what you think in the comments!**

When morning came she woke up to the water being calm, still rippling but no waves. Not yet anyway. She descended down the ladder, Verts heavy even breathing an indication he was still asleep. She went into the fridge and saw she could just have some ham that had already been cooked, some small beagles and some cream cheese. She didn't want to wake Very with the sound and smell of anything cooking so she took some ham and a beagle with cream cheese and ate quickly. Off in the middle of the lake was the Lady of the Lake making her way up to Stehekin, signaling for the day to start. Most people who lived on the water would wake up to the sound of her wake brushing the shore, nothing dangerous but enough noise to wake up the people who knew that was the start of the day. She wanted to get the raft out to the booie to the left of the Deck so she could have a place to sit in the water and move with it while also relaxing. There were chains anchored to the bottom, and she would need to connect the chains from the raft to thoughts chains.

She opened the door to the boat house and began using the pulleys to slowly lower the raft one side at a time, little by little. By the time the Lady of the Lake wake brushed up onto the shore, the raft was floating in the water. She went back into the dock-house and got her swimsuit out. She looked outside and could see that there were already boats heading up the lake. She looked behind her and saw that Verts eyes were closed and his breathing was long and even. He was still asleep, so she didn't see any harm in quickly changing into her one peace swimsuit here with the protection of the blinds from the outside world.

It turns out Vert had woken up to her climbing back up the ladder to get her swimsuit but closed his eyes to enjoy his dream just a little bit longer. When he opened his eyes again her back was bare and she was now taking off her shorts, bending over to do so. His eyes when wide as he took in the sight before him. 'Oh shit...oh shit!' he thought to himself, unable to look away. She had the nice curve to her cheeks that showed they had muscle but were still soft to the touch, voluptuous as well. Her back showed the lean muscle she had, and when she lifted her arms he could just make out the curve of the side of her breasts. Oh dear god how was he going to do this without embarrassing himself for the next however long they were going to be stuck together. He forced his eyes closed and slowly turned around, pretending to move in his sleep. 'get a hold of yourself man' he thought to himself, mentally trying to slap some sense into himself. He didn't turn back around until he heard her dive into the water. He sat up and sighed as he noticed a bulge forming under the sheets. "Fuck my life." They needed different rooms if this was going to be the norm. They needed to get into the cabin.

It took half an hour to get the raft secure on the chains. Once she was finished she sat on the corner of the raft and lay back, feeling the water slightly churn and move with the little waves, the raft going up and down and her legs feeling the slight push and pull of the water. She took a deep breath in and then sniffed. She could smell eggs cooking. She got up, dove for the lower dock, hoisted herself up, water pouring off of her as she made her way to the opened doors. She stopped right before the entrance. "What's this?"

"Eggs and ham. Want some?"

"Sure, let me get the little table and beach chairs from the storage." She said, going down the opened hallway and opening the door right before the back of the house. She pulled out 2 lazy deck chairs and a table and placed them out on the deck under the shade. Vert came out with the food, and she filled their glasses with the water from the lake. "It's clean enough to drink out of."

"With water this clear I should think so." He sad taking his seat. He was in red swimming trunks and a white muscle shirt. They sat there and ate their breakfast in quiet. "You know we need to go into the cabin."

"No we don't."

"Yes we do Cheza, we can't do this with the one room for everything."

"And why not?"

"Because we have no privacy."

"Then we make privacy."

"No, Cheza we need to go in there and have our own spaces."

"Fine if you need it so much then why don't you do it."

"Because it's not my house and you didn't want me to in the first place!" Vert said then took their dirty dishes into the kitchen sink and washed them.

"Wow Vert I didn't know you were so considerate" She said, going into the room and going to the back where there was a set of drawers and pulling out some sunscreen now that her skin was dry.

She began to rub the sunscreen all over her body, her arms, her chest, her legs, her face. It was like torture for Vert, but he would never admit it.

"Vert."

"What."

"Could you get my back?" she asked.

He turned around to look at her, her back was to him, her suit having a fashionable hole in the back she could not reach. He walked over to her, determined not to make a big deal of it, took some sunscreen and rubbed her back. Her skin was so soft to his touch, smooth and warm. It took all of his focus not to trail his hands all over her bare skin. He may have been a bit forceful when rubbing the screen in. When he was finished he went outside and sat down, putting the screen on himself as well, but keeping his clothes on.

They spent the next week in silence like this except in the morning when Vert tried to convince her they needed to go into the Cabin. One of the days she went into the local town of Manson to the red apple store to get some groceries, no one recognized her, at least she hoped, and she came back with a car full of food.

It was Friday evening and they were just finishing up dinner. They had spend a week in the one room dock-house. Even she was getting restless about not having her own space and always wondering if Vert saw her getting dressed.

"Hay Vert."

"Yah."

"I think we should try and go into the Cabin tomorrow."

"Finally."

"But I am...nervous. I honestly am scared Vert."

"What do you honestly think is going to happen."

"That I am going to remember the last thing that happened to me in there and have a full blown panic attack."

"What, your parents dying."

"No they died in the big fire 7 years ago over there" she said pointing across the lake.

"Oh, what happened?"

"I...I am not ready to tell you."

"OK" Vert said, getting up and moving in front of her, blocking her view of the lake, but instead of looking down at her, he squatted down so they were eye to eye. "You won't be alone Cheza, I will be there. Whatever memories are in there that you are so afraid of, I will be there to help you threw them so you can remember the good times and make new ones."

"Wow Vert, that was really sweet, thanks."

"Yah well, all this time out here has helped me to relax and given me some time to think and I will admit, and only one time will I admit this, I was hard on you. You were right, I was treating you more severely than the others and I am sorry about that."

"Wow, this is so much to take in at once. I don't know if I can handle it." She said sarcastically.

"Ha ha, don't push it." he said taking the plates.

"So do you know why you were so harsh with me?"

"That...I am still trying to figure out."

"Oh" she said back, the conversation dropping as they got ready for bed. She brought in her now dry towel, swimsuit, and other bits of clothing and carried them up the ladder to her bed. She snuggled under the blanket and looked down at the room, being able to see Verts back and blond hair. Now that she really looked, there were suttle differences between Vert and James that she hadn't been able to see before. Verts hair was slicked back and a bit longer, his shoulders were more broad and yet still relaxed, and he had more muscle here and there, just a little. She watched as he made his way over to the futon.

"I feel like I am being watched" he said turning to her and seeing her eyes almost luminescent green in the dark. Only her eyes were visible, the rest of her was covered in a blanket, and he couldn't help thinking it was a little cute, almost cat like. "I guess I am being watched." He said with a smile, a genuine smile. His teeth were perfect and white while his smile reached his eyes.

Cheza felt her heart almost melt. Wow he had a dashing smile. "You know what Mr. Grumpy-pants."

"What Miss. Know-it-all."

"You should smile more. It makes your face light up."

"I do smile, just not when I was around you. Hopefully that will change."

"Maybe it will. And you have yet to swim in the lake."

"Are you kidding me? Me in that cold lake. I don't think so."

"Well from now on, be warned. If you get between me and the water I am pushing you in."

"Oh no you're not."

"Sorry, house rules." She said with a coy smile of her own before turning around and snuggling down for bed.

Vert sighed, taking off his flip-flops and climbing into bed as well.

The next morning they went thru their routine of having breakfast together in silence. Vert noticed that Cheza was more tense than before.

"Cheza, it's going to be ok. I promise."

"And if it isn't ok?"

"Then you can punch me again, and I will swallow my pride." He place his hand over his heart dramatically. "And eat my words and say you were right."

"Woooooooow that's a big thing for you."

"It is a big thing. I never say I am wrong, mainly because I am mostly right."

Cheza laughed, her mood lightening a little. Once breakfast was finished and everything was clean, she went up to the loft to make sure she had everything, and he did the same by the futon. She came down the ladder, feeling very tense, afraid of what would happen. They walked down the opened hallway between the dock-house and the boathouse and up the path. At the bottom of the step leading onto the deck, she stopped. Her heart was beating so fast, she felt panicked, she just stood there. everything became a blur except for the door, and she swore she could hear someone crying on the other side, sounding a lot like her. Before anything else happened though, a large hand appeared in front of her. Looking at the hand she followed the arm it was attached to to the person offering their hand with a smile. She looked into blue eyes, as blue as the lake itself, and she took his hand, letting him lead her to the door.

"Cheza?" he asked as he turned around. She looked catatonic, he tried a few more times to get her attention, but she seemed in her own world. "What could possibly have happened here to make her like this." He thought aloud and slowly placed his hand in front of hers. Large eyes unnaturally and unblinkingly moved to his hand then up to him. They were fare off eyes, like she was in another world. As they looked at each other, her eyes began to gain life back in them again as she slowly took his hand and allowed him to lead her to the door. "Why don't we open it together?"

"Yah, that would be a good idea." she said quietly. She placed her hand on the French door knob, his on top of hers, and together they pulled the door opened.

As light washed into the room, there was no evidence of any dust, no mess, no cobwebs. She stepped in and the smell of her home made her freeze and take it in. Vert went to the windows and pulled open each of the blinds, letting the sunlight fill the house. The walls were a very light grey and there were large photos of her as a little girl and her mother and father, and even some other family members. The cabin went back farther then it seemed. There was about 25 feet from the front to the back with a hallway leading to what he assumed was a room or bathroom. The floors were all wood floors except to the left. There was a dip in the room on the left, stairs going down to a kind of sitting room with forest floor colored carpeting and brown couches and chairs. To the right was the dining room with a long wooden table that could sit 7 or 8. Right next to them on the right, there was a spiraling metal and carpeted stairway going up to a second level. The sitting room didn't have another level over it though. To the right and further in, in the far back corner, was a slightly opened kitchen, a very large kitchen with an island in the middle. It had green marble on the countertops and continued with the wooden floor. It was slightly sectioned off all the way to were the island ended with an opened window where people could place things on the little ledge and others could take it and meander around. The kitchen itself was very modern for its time. There was the odd chair here and little table there to place things on with little knick-knacks and pictures on them.

"Wow, this is a nice place." Vert said looking over at Cheza, trying to get her excited.

"Yah, it still is." She said softly, tears streaming down her face.

"Cheza, are you ok?"

"Yes, I am home" She smiled, still crying. She had been wrong. She had been so wrong. When she stepped into her home, she hadn't remembered what had last happened here, what she remembered was everything else. All the Christmas trees they had decorated, the Thanksgiving meals they had shared with friends and loved ones, all the birthday parties, the times her mother and father danced on the opened wooded floor late into the night when they thought she had gone to bed. All the happy memories she had came flooding back to her. She fell to her knees with relief and she began to laugh. "I am home!" she yelled.

"Seems like it. Glad we did this?"

She nodded her head.

"Should we have done this sooner."

"Yes we should have, I was just so afraid. You were right Mr. Grumpy-pants."

"Well thank you Miss. Knot-it-all. Now let's get unpacked. And why don't you show me around."

"Ok, well lets go to my room." She said, going down the hallway that was straight ahead, to the left was the bathroom/shower plus a spare bedroom if anyone wanted to stay over. She opened the door to a slightly larger than average bedroom. The walls were painted in green, her bed sheets were brown, there was a mirror on the right with a dresser under it and to the back was a large window looking out into the forest.

"Not too bad. Looks like all of your stuff has been cleaned out." Vert said as he opened the drawers.

"I think...I am going to sleep in my parents room."

"Ok, then I guess I will sleep in here. If you don't mind."

"No that's ok" she said as he placed his bag on the floor to unpack later. She showed him the kitchen and the patio to the left of the sitting aria outside and threw a set of glass door. It had just as much room as the sitting room and even a fire pit and hot tub. They went upstairs and there was an opened level over the dining room that had a desk with an old computer. "My mothers." she said, placing her hand on the computer as well as picking up a picture of her father and her when she was 13 years old. She smiled, remembering when it had been taken. There was a railing going all around the edge where the floor cut off to reveal the sitting room and right in the middle of the far wall was a door. She opened it and smiled. In the left corner facing out the right far corner was her parents quean sized bed with red and black sheets and blankets and pillows. there was also a chair to the right with a desk piled with books. The entire back wall and right side wall as well as the roof was one big window. The roof was at a slant though, matching the rest of the roof. You could see everything in the forest but the trees were cleverly blocking the view from the road.

"Now that is cool."

"My mother loved watching the night sky, the rain fall, the snow drift down from the sky. My father made everything for my mother." she said with a smile. She went to the left and opened the far door near the window. The window continued into a large bathroom with a footed legged tub deep enough to submerge anyone in. In the corner was like a waterfall shower with dark brown tiles and a his and her sinks. A toilet was behind the door with its own ledge blocking it from view.

"Holly crap." Vert breathed out. "Was your father rich to get everything like this?"

"No he was just very good at building this."

"He built everything?"

"Everything made of wood and all the rooms yes." She said with a smile at the flabbergasted look on Verts face.

"Dang, I wish I could meet him. I have so many questions I want to ask him."

"I wish I could ask him questions too." she said as she lead him out of the bathroom and went into the door next to it. They walked into a large walk in closet with all the places for shoes and shirts and drawers, hangers and in the corner there was a dresser with a mirror on it and a chair to sit on. She caught a flash of her mother sitting in the chair, doing her makeup and smiling at a younger her standing in the doorway. there were no windows in this room, just lights.

"Wow, your mother was treated like a quean."

"And loved like one as well. They were so in love. That's all I ever wished for myself when I grew up. To be loved as much as my mother was by someone and to love them just as much in return." she said as she closed the door after placing her bags in the room.

"That's a very big wish now a days."

"Yah, don't I know it" she laughed, but it didn't reach her eyes, which Vert saw. Not for the first time this week he wondered what had happened to this woman to make her feel this kind of fear for a place she had loved so much.

Over the cores of the day they moved the food from the dock-house to the cabin and started settling down. Cheza just sat on the porch swing with some lemonade as she watched the world move around her. there was even a family of mountain goats that came down to have a drink from the lake.

"You know, this really is a beautiful place." Vert said, placing his hands on the low railing of the porch, looking at the goats. "I see why your dad invested so much time in building here."

She was about to reply when she saw one of the boats heading towards there direction. "Vert, go inside please."

"Why?"

"We have company, and I don't know what to expect. I kind of just ran away without letting anyone know."

Vert looked at her then out at the boat. It looked like a police boat. "I will be inside if you need me." He said, going inside but staying in the doorway watching out as she descended the path and waited on the dock.

The man driving the boat threw her a rope. She caught it and pulled the boat along one of the long docks and tied the rope off.

"Much obliged Ma'am. I am Officer Taylor of the Manson Chelan Police force. We were informed that someone was living in this place. Would that be you Ma'am?"

"Yes officer it is. This is my home and I came back to spend some time here."

"Well beggin your pardon Ma'am, but this place belongs to the Dracos family. A very important family to the people who live on this lake." He said, his voice was cool but his body posture told a different story, he was poised for anything that might happen. "Lance and Layla Dracos died 7 years ago in a figher fight, no one knows what happened to their daughter. What's your name Ma'am."

"My name is Chezarin Arora Dracos. It's nice to see you again Jeff. You have certainly grown up" she said calmly. There was silence as the young officer looked at her, really looked at her.

"Wait here Ma'am. Don't move." He said as he jumped into the boat, never going out of sight. He pulled out his radio and was talking for a few minutes before coming back on shore. "The Sheriff would like a word with you Ma'am."

"I know, I have been expecting to be reamed by Eric Ericson for a while now." She smiled.

"My god it is you." He said, taking off his hat. "I almost didn't recognize you, its hard to mistake your hair but I..I just didn't want to get my hopes up." he said before clearing his throat and getting back into his business stride. "There were reports of a woman and a man sitting on the deck."

"Yes that is a friend of mine Vert. I thought I would show him where I grew up. Does he need to be out here too?"

"Yes Ma'am."

She turned around and gestured for Vert to come down. Once he came into view, she saw Jeff tense. "It's ok officer, it's not James. I know he looks a lot like him, but I can assure you they are very different." she finished as Vert came to stand behind Cheza.

"Good afternoon Sir. I am Officer Taylor. The Sheriff is on his way to talk to you too."

"Are we in trouble Cheza." Vert asked.

"You aren't but I will probably be." She said as she saw another boat similar to the one Jeff has speeding around the corner and heading their way.


	9. Chapter 8

**Hello all, long time no see. Happy 2017! So I am back and I am determined to finish this story so I may have some times where I haven't updated in a while but trust me I am not abandoning this story. I have a lot going threw my head and its hard sometimes to get my creative juices flowing. So please thank you for staying with me and for continuing with this story!**

As the boat neared she could feel a bit of tension in the air. The officer driving was an old friend of her fathers. He, besides her mother and Sage, were the only other people in the universe who knew what he and, in turn, she was. He was known as Chief by everyone, no one knew his real name except her family and thoughts who worked as his officers. He tossed a rope at Jeff and jumped from the boat onto the dock before the boat came to a stop. She looked at her godfather for the first time in 7 years. His hair was still long and tied back in a pony tail just like all the men of his tribe, even his eagle feather was in it as well. He had silver streaks in it that he hadn't had before. He stood there, his arms crossed, staring at her.

"Chezarin Arora Dracos." He said each word with a punctuation that every parent did for their child when they were in trouble.

"Hello Chief Godfather. It's nice to see you again." she said in her sweet voice.

"Don't give me that tone Cheza, don't try and act innocent. Do you know how worried I have been these past 7 years. I have been praying to the ancestors each and every night since you left to keep you safe wherever you were!" He said and he closed the gap between them in 3 long strides and embraced her in his arms.

"You're not mad?"

"Of cores I am mad Cheza, but I am more relived that you are safe and healthy and alive." He said, squeezing her tight. He then looked behind her and saw Vert standing there, a small smile on his face. "James" he whispered out, taking Cheza and pushing her behind him. "How dare you come here."

"No Chief, that's not James" she said getting in front of him again. "His name is Vert, and he is a friend of mine."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"My lord he looks like he could be his twin."

"I know, it kind of threw me for a loop myself. Why don't we go inside and have a drink."

"Good, I need a stiff one." he said, letting Cheza lead the way. He pulled Vert back first, out of her ear shot, Officer Taylor right next to him. "I am warning you, hurt that girl and there will be hell to pay." He said before letting go and following his goddaughter.

"Don't worry man, he is like that to every male who is in her life."

"Oh good, I thought I was the special case." Vert joked, rubbing his upper arm and following the group into the cabin.

"So where did you go?" Jeff asked, taking a sip of iced tea.

"Well I bummed a ride from some tourists to Wenatchee and then hitch-hiked all the way across I-90. Then spent some time in DC, traveled around the major cities in the states. Got a few jobs to get my car, then drove myself around from town to town. My car broke down in the bum middle of nowhere in Arizona on the salt flats. That's were I met Vert and his group."

"Yah, her power searing was out. It took a while but I was able to fix it and our boss took a shine to her and offered her a job at Spectra Motors in April."

"Why did you take it?" Jeff asked.

"Because they needed my help." She said with a smile. She looked over at Vert and smiled at him. He smiled back at her and drank some of the sweat iced tea.

Chief looked at both of them, observed them talking about the rest of their group. There was something going on, something more then what was on the surface. He could see this boy was a leader, he had the ability to command and people would follow him. He had power to him that most men try to fake, and you could tell he knew it. However Chief could tell that this boy was intentionally making himself look weaker, less threatening whenever Cheza was closer to him or looked at him.

"Vert."

"Yes Sir?"

"If you would please follow me" he said, standing up and going outside. He was please to see that Vert followed behind.

"What is that man doing now." Cheza sighed as she saw them walk towards the dock house.

"Probably giving Vert some friendly advice." Jeff said. "Anyway I wanted to let you know that I missed you. A lot of people did."

"Thanks Jeff. I missed a lot of people as well. I...I wanted to stay but I just couldn't. After what he did to me I just couldn't face anyone. I was a coward when I ran." She sighed.

"No, you were just trying to survive. And you felt you didn't know what to do so you ran. The flight or fight instinct."

"I know, and I know I worried a lot of people. Well I am finished running, I am going to fight my past and get over it."

"That's my bestie!" Jeff cheered. "By the way, I am getting married!"

"WHAT NO WAY! CONGRATS! Who is the lucky man?"

"His name is Derrick, he works as a dental hygienist."

"Bet he has a smile that would make you melt."

"Oh he does. By the way, I never properly thanked you for supporting my decision to come out of the closet."

"You don't have to thank me, that's just what true friends do."

"I know, but I still want to thank you. I was wondering if you would like to be in the wedding?"

"What me? Why?"

"Well me and Derrick have decided instead of just grooms men, we have the most important girl and guy from our friends groups in the wedding. I wanted to have you but I didn't know where you were. And now here you are. Tristan is going to be the guy."

"When is the wedding?"

"Christmas Eve."

"AAAAWWWWWWWWWW that's so romantic!"

As the two friends got caught up on everything that had happened in their lives, Vert and Chief were having a serious talk. Vert was standing next to one pole and Chief was at the other one.

"So, you are good friends with my goddaughter."

"Yes Sir. I want to be honest though, in the beginning I did give her a tough time. I am not proud of it at all, and I want to do everything I can to make it up to her, and I will."

"What do you mean hard on her."

"Well...I was strict with her...performance on the track, stricter then with the other team members, harsh even. There was one time I even made her cry, and like I said I am not proud of it." Vert explained hurriedly.

"Why did you treat her like that?"

"That's...the part I am still trying to figure out."

"Peh youth."

"What does that mean."

"It means boy that you are too young to comprehend what is right in front of you. Why the change of heart."

"It was actually when we started living here. We had had a very big fight and our boss decided we needed time away from work to work it out. I saw the way she acted here, completely frozen with fear, catatonic, petrified. I saw the shadows of her past on her face and realized that her life had been hard enough, I had just been adding to the bad memories. I felt like such an ass, and I felt...well I felt sorry and I just couldn't think what would make her act that way. She obviously loves this place."

"Felt sorry for her?"

"No, for what she had gone thru. All that keeps popping up in my mind is 'what could have possibly happened to this beautiful ball of happy sunshine to make her react like this to a place she obviously loves so much' and I can't really think of anything but I want to make sure she feels safe."

Chief watched the passion in the boys face and eyes, and heard it in his voice. This kid had a lot of spirit, almost as much as Cheza.

"Well, she is an adult so I can't protect her as I once was able to, so I want you to make me a promise. Promise me that you will do whatever you can to keep her spirit alive and free. She has had a very bad experience and she disserves a happy and free life."

"I will do what I can, I promise you."

"James still comes by town every now and then."

"James?"

"Her ex. If I wasn't on the force I would cut off his head and mount it on a stick. Or better yet, take him out miles away from the nearest town, hang him upside down, cut off his balls, and leave him there."

"Wow...you have had a long time to think about this. That bad?"

"Not my story to tell kid."

"Would it be ok if you stopped calling me kid?"

"That just convinces me that that is going to be your nickname. Also, do you have anything electronic on you?" Chief asked, having been moving around Vert the entire time and was now facing him, the water behind Vert.

"Just a watch, but its sturdy, why?"

"No reason really, just this." Chief said as he pushed Vert out of nowhere and Vert fell off the dock into the water.

Back at the Cabin both Cheza and Jeff heard yelling coming from the water.

"What the hell is my godfather up to?!" Cheza yelled as she booked it out of the cabin and down the path. As she got closer, she could hear the sound of Vert cursing and screaming about the cold. She stopped right next to Chief and saw Vert Hoisting himself onto the L dock.

"He got between you and the water didn't he?"

"Yes he did."

"OH MY DEAR GOD THAT WATER IS FUCKING COLD! WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO KILL ME?!" Vert yelled behind him.

She looked at her godfather and smiled. She took her keys out of her pockets, took her shoes off, walked onto the L dock and followed the narrow dock to the bend just as Very was standing up. She smiled wickedly at him.

"Oh no you don't." He said, getting into a defensive position.

She began walking over to him, the dock was too narrow for him to avoided her so he prepared himself to push her back. He didn't expect her to duk and then pick him up.

"NO!" He screamed just as she took a running leap into the water, submerging them both under the surface. Vert grabbed onto the float and hoisted himself up on it before his head went under the surface. "I SAID NO! GOD I AM FREEZING!"

"Sorry, its house rules. As long as you are not in uniform, unless there is a sign up saying be good, its fare game." Chief said from the dock. "Besides now you will have to get back into the water."

"Oh dear god" Vert moaned as he realized that he was on an island. Cheza came to the surface, her head just breaking the water.

"Oh come on its not that bad, you just have to get to the bottom where it is REALLY cold and then come back up. It will be warm after that." she said as she gracefully pulled herself up next to Vert, sitting down to his left. The edge of the raft dipped below the surface, letting the water brush against their hips. Cheza's shirt was a white tank top, she had on a cream colored bra underneath.

Chief caught Vert looking at her bra threw the now see-threw wet tank top before hastily looking away. 'Kid has a bit of chivalry, good'. "Well my dear, it's been fun but we have to be getting back to patrolling the waters."

"Thanks for coming by! I was wondering, since you are going to tell everyone I am alive and ok and back and don't deny that you will. How about we have a big dinner tomorrow night?"

"How about a potluck, I could bring some of my deer meat and grill it."

"Oh my god that would be amazing! Love your dear steaks!"

"Alright, I will invite the force, also the firefighters. I know they will want to check in on you."

"Wow we are going to have a full house. How about 6 pm?"

"We will see you here." Jeff said with a smile before both the boats reversed out and speed away.

"Nice family."

"Thanks, I felt bad that I left without a note but I couldn't risk James finding me. I know I was being a coward but...I just had to leave."

"What did he do?"

"Some bad stuff."

"Like trashing your room? Maybe getting some really embarrassing picks of you and posting them to the web?"

"Vert Wheeler, stop trying to guess. I will tell you when I am good and ready." Cheza said in a firm voice, looking straight into his eyes.

"Ok ok, sorry I asked."

"Thank you for apologizing. Now we need to go shopping today and get some stuff for the potluck, some drinks, maybe I could make my Mac and Cheese, or little grilled cheese sandwiches." she thought out loud as she went back into the water and dove down to the bottom.

"Ok Vert, you can do this." he said as he eased his way back into the water. He could swim but the water was cold and he wasn't use to it. From out of nowhere Cheza grabbed his foot and pulled him down to the bottom. It was definitely colder down here. He kicked off from the rocks and resurfaced. "WHAT THE HEEL ARE YOU TRYING TO DO!"

"I am trying to show you how to properly get use to the water." Cheza said after resurfacing with him

"Isn't the water warmer now?"

"NO ITS NOT ITS...it...it is warmer." Very said as he really felt the water. "Wow, that's actually pretty cool."

"Now are you going to swim with me from here on or am I going to have to swim myself?"

"I don't know, it's still cold when you get in."

"Don't be such a baby, just taking a running leap."

"Fine, fine ok, but let's get back and get some lunch." Vert said as he swam over to the L dock and pulled himself up. Cheza just hoisted herself up on the lowered deck and walked up to the main deck. They headed back to the cabin to get changed and eat before they went shopping for the pot luck.

She had her hair down since it was still wet and she had a green tank top on with denim shorts and sandals. She hadn't bothered with a bra since it was just to the store. Vert had on his normal shirt and denim shorts as they made their way into the store. When the doors opened letting them walk in to the Apple grocery store the from clerk looked up to say her greeting and paused, first looking to Vert and then to Cheza. The woman had short silver hair and intelligent stormy grey eyes as she looked at them.

"Good afternoon, how are we doing today?" She asked as she scanned another customers groceries.

"Doing well thank you for asking. Just getting ready for a pot luck." Cheza said, grabbing a basket and handing another one to Vert.

The woman gasped, dropping one of the products she had been scanning. The family that she had been servicing was a very young family with a few month old baby. They looked at the woman then at Cheza and had a face of shock.

"Cheza? Chezarin Dracos?" The cashier asked.

"Yes, and this is my friend Vert from Arizona."

"Oh my god." The elder woman said, slowly going over to her. "Your back. It's me, Mrs. Cullom."

Now it was Cheza's turn to gasp. "My 9th grade ap science teacher. I didn't even recognize you!" Cheza said, going up to her old teacher and giving her a hug.

"Well a lot has changed in 7 years. Like you. You have grown up so well. We were all worried about you."

"I know, and I am sorry I didn't leave a note."

"Even I was worried" The man from the family said with a smile. "It's me, Al, Al Devero."

"No way! The bad boy of the school, now a family man?" Cheza said, not really believing it.

"Yah, kind of had to grow up." He said, with a smile.

"Oh so you're the Cheza he talks about. The only one to talk back to him and taught him a lesson." The woman said as she walked up to her. "My name is Mira, and I want to thank you for knocking some manners into this guy for me."

"It's not a problem at all. I am just glad he grew to be this here in front of me. What made you change your path?"

"Well, when you disappeared I guess I thought if this could happen to someone like you, what would happen to me?" Al said with a sigh. "But anyway I can't believe you are back, and still as wet as ever. You never went anywhere without your hair being soaked. Well except for winter, though even then I remember a time where your hair was wet and by the end of the day it was frozen."

"Yes well with water like this why wouldn't I?" She said smiling. "And this is Vert, he is not James, and he is spending some time with me. We kind of needed a break away from work."

"Oh nice to meet you Vert. Dang you look just like James." Al said as he squeezed Vert's hand a bit too hard.

"So I am told."

"Man Cheza, you have a type. Glad to see you are having relationships again. Thinking of settling down yourself."

Both Vert and Cheza started stammering that they were not together and why they wouldn't be. Both Al and Mrs. Cullom saw how close they were to each other, and even while they were talking could see how the two were in sync with each others movements. The both looked to each other and smiled.

"Ok ok I get it, stop your blubbering. Mrs. C, we do need to get going and there is a line forming." Al said, going back to the register.

"Oh right. We can talk a little later. My son is now a firefighter so we are going to the potluck so I will see you there and we can catch up." Mrs. C said with a big smile.

"Wow, your son made it in? Dang way to go. Yes, I will see you there." Cheza said as she and Vert went into the store and started shopping.

"Can you believe she is back?"

"It's hard to Mrs. C, and that she is as happy as she seams. I would not have believed it if I hadn't seen it for my own eyes. Especially after what happened."

"I know what you mean, but anyway don't let too many people know." Mrs. C whispered.

"I know, don't worry I won't. Keep an eye out though."

Over the next half an hour, Vert and Cheza went around the store and gathered drinks, alcoholic and non, some sides, and some little things for the week. They were on the last part which was the little grilled cheese sandwiches. Vert was over in the bread section trying to find small enough bread loves, choosing one before someone was whisperedly calling his name. He turned around and saw a quite panicked looking Mrs. C from the front.

"Hello Ma'am."

"Where is Cheza?" she asked frantically.

"I think over in Dairy, why?"

"James is here...in the store."

"Ok...and?"

"You need to go to her! NOW!" Mrs. C pushed him. "If he sees her I am afraid of what will happen!"

"What's the deal with this James person anyway. I have no idea what happened."

"It's not my story to tell and besides we don't have time! Just please trust us and go to her!"

Vert looked at the frantic look in the elders eyes and nodded his head, heading off to the dairy section near the back of the store. When he rounded the corner, he saw Cheza, with her back to him. Her shoulders and back were so tense that they were trembling, and she also looked like she was cowering in her stance. In front of her was a guy with black hair, and when Vert got a good look at him he nearly gaped. This guy...looked exactly like him, down to his smile. But it never reached his eyes as he looked at the girl in front of him, this guy must be James. As Vert watched he saw James's hand move to jerk Cheza's head up. Something inside Vert snapped and he growled, set his shoulders, and marched over to Cheza's side.

"Hay hun, sorry I took so long. Had a hard time deciding what bread we wanted." Vert said, draping his arm over her shoulders and angling her so she was slightly hidden next to him. "Who is this, an old friend? Nice to meet you, my name is Vert." He said extending his hand.

James was taken aback, but only for a second. His smile returned as he shook Vert's hand, both of them squeezing hard enough that it was hostile but still subtle. "Didn't think there was someone who looked almost as good as me. Well almost is right I guess. Cheza if you wanted me back you could have just said."

"Maybe she likes blonds more, or maybe I'm just better then you." Vert said as he lead Cheza back where he had come from."Did you get the right Cheese?" he asked. She nodded as they headed down a isle.

"Hay Vert, I didn't know you liked sloppy seconds but hay to each their own." James hollered before one of the employees punched him in the face and dragged him out of the store. Cheza's face remained neutral, but the color had drained from it and there was a steady stream of tears coming from her eyes. Vert paid for the groceries and before he knew it he was driving Shifter home. Once Back at the cabin Cheza had gone right upstairs and locked herself in her room. Vert had unloaded the car and put the food away, had tried several times to talk to her with no avail. He even threatened to kick down the door, but when he heard her sob he promptly said he wouldn't. After trying to get her out until the sun went down he gave up and left her alone, going to bed.

Back at the store Cheza was going thru the cheeses, she had picked cheddar of cores as well as some smoked Gouda. She was looking threw the Havarti to see if there was some she could use when she felt a presence beside her.

"Well hello there, haven seen you in a while." the voice said. Cheza's blood ran cold. She knew this voice, she knew it better then she would ever admit. It was the voice that had haunted her dreams for the past 7 years. She straitened and turned, sure enough there was James, the very guy she had been afraid to run into ever since she had come.

"Now why did you run away Cheza, I missed you so much" He said, extending his arms out like he was going to hug her, a smile on his face that was a bit on the sinister side. She moved the basket so that it was between her and him and held onto it like it was her lifeline. She retreated within herself, trying to find her calm place so she wouldn't panic. Normally she would see the trees, the water, flying in the sky with her father. This time though she saw the hub, Sage, the battle force 5, even her time spend with Vert.

Before she could really contemplate anything her head was jerked back up by James, his eyes dark. After her head was jerked back she felt a warm arm wrap around her shoulder and begin to guide her out. Her heart rate started to calm before she heard James's comment about 'sloppy seconds', her shields going back up and would not budge. She knew he was going to question her about it, who wouldn't. She was not ready to tell him, she didn't want him to know. After finally earning some respect from her leader she didn't want him to look at her like all the others had when they had found out. A look of complete disgust and even pity. He of all people was the last person in the multivers that she wanted to see that look on his face. Her heart stopped just thinking about it. She let him lead her to the front, then into the car, she even let him drive. Once they were back at the cabin she practically ran from the car, up the stairs, into her room, then locked the door. She curled herself on her bed, she even closed the blinds to keep the world out. She didn't speak, she just sobbed herself to sleep, the only think to keep her company was the very faint smell of her mother and father on the sheets.


	10. Chapter 9

**WOOOOOOOOOOOOW all the way to Easter and I haven't posted, I am so sorry. Well here is the next chapter for thoughts who are still reading. Mentions of past sexual abuse in this chapter, you have been noted, and as always reviews are a big help!**

The next morning Vert awoke to the smell of cooking eggs and hash browns. He put on his shirt and some pants and went out into the dining room and peeked around the corner into the kitchen. Cheza was at the stove, heating several pans with different ingredients at once, she was even chopping up the potatoes into very thin slices to make the hash browns. Vert smiled, she had her hair up, she had her gym shorts on and a tank top, she had an apron on that was denim, she even had a bit of flower smudged on her cheek. Stanford had been right, she did know her way around the kitchen and he had to admit, never out loud, but she looked rather cute in the apron. He sat on the ledge, leaning against the wall and waited to see if she would realize he was there. She still seamed stiff but once she started playing some music from the radio she began to loosen up. The music seemed to come from everywhere, like there were speakers in the walls. After about 15 minutes, right as she was finishing up, he decided to make his presence known.

"Hmmmm, something smells good" he said.

She had been in a trance as she cooked, her father said she had always done it. She would be off in her own world as she cooked. This time was no exception. She wanted to make breakfast this morning as a thank you to Vert for being her knight yesterday. Once she turned on the music she really got into her stride. She was just finishing up putting things on the plate on the island when she heard Vert. She jumped, nearly dropping the hash browns she had just finished cooking.

"Oh Vert, I didn't hear you." She said, trying to recover, but she was still a bit shaky from yesterday, Vert could tell.

"It's ok, I am sorry I scared you" He said as she started putting the food on the table and bringing the milk and OJ jugs out. Vert decided to help her by taking a few of the plates of food. They both sat down and began to eat their meal while the music played.

"So" Vert said. "Are you going to tell me what happened yesterday?"

She froze midd chew, looked at him, and continued chewing in silence, she even turned off the music.

"I guess not. I don't want to be an ass, but if we are going to work together we need to get over this and the first step is to talk about it."

"I don't want to."

"Why? Bad memories just like this Cabin that you regretted not coming in sooner?"

"It's what James did in the house that started everything."

"Ok now we are getting somewhere. What did he do?"

"Nothing you want to know, trust me, it's bad."

"And another dead end. Cheza I am serious, we are team mates now, well we always were and I know I have been a major jerk and a pain in the ass before but it's all going to stop I promise. Everything starts with trust, you need to trust that I won't judge you in any way."

"No Vert, everyone I have ever known has judged me when they found out."

"And it looks like they are doing a good job protecting you."

"Yes but when they found out...I hate when people look at me like that. They knew me my entire life. You just started liking me last week."

"Cheza that's not true. Ok I was intimidated by you, and that's the only time I will admit it. You made me almost loose control of something and it angered me, I know I shouldn't have taken it out on you but I did and I am sorry."

'What did you almost loose control of?"

"I will tell you when you tell me what happened."

"Then I hope you are satisfied with disappointment."

"Same to you."

They both finished their food in silence. Cheza cleared off the side porch, making sure there was plenty of room as well as places to sit. She lit the fire and also brought out the grill for Chief. Vert was making sure all the breakables were put away, just in case, then after that he sat on the porch swing. Cheza began setting up the grilled cheese sandwiches to cook but didn't cook them just yet, she placed all of the snacking food on a long table she had gotten out of the spare room so people could munch, and she had put all of the drinks in the outdoor fridge to keep cool all before people started arriving.

"They are arriving!" Vert yelled from out front as boats started heading their way, personal boats and even police boats. She could even hear the sound of cars. She would need to remind herself to change the code on the gate when everyone left. There were easily over 50 people with their families. All of them seems to know Cheza very well and they all expressed how worried they had been when she had left and also about learning of yesterdays incident.

"He broke his restraining order by getting within 30 feet of you. We will be on the lookout for him." Chief said as he opened a bottle of bear.

"Thanks Chief, I feel better already" she said opening a bottle of Strongbow hard cider.

"Hay no drinking. You're not of age yet."

"Oh yes I am, turned 21 in May"

"Oh yah, crap well everyone be careful now!" Chief yelled as he began cooking the steaks.

After that there wasn't time to keep tabs on everyone. She began to cook the grilled cheese, someone had brought home made tomato soup, another person brought cheese meatballs, so much food was brought, enough to feed an entire army, which it felt like at her place right at this moment. Vert stuck to Chief as well as Jeff since everyone looked at him with a dangerous edge before they were explained that he was not James and that he had saved Cheza from James yesterday. The day went buy and Vert got offered a few drinks. Most of them were fine but then there was one he knew had alcohol in it. He didn't tell anyone he wasn't 21...yet, just a few more months. The party lasted until the moon was high in the sky before everyone started taking off. Vert was in the sitting room...sitting on the ground.

"Vert? Vert where are you?" Cheza called outside. She hadn't seen him for a while now...not since the sun went down.

"Your sapos to say Marko when trying to find someone." Vert slurred out.

"Vert?" she said, going down the steps into the sitting room.

"Say Marko!" he said, throwing his arms up in the air.

"Ok Marko."

"POLO!" He yelled then started laughing, his face red all the way to his nose.

"Why are you sitting on the ground?"

"Well...I kept running into things...and the room kept moving...so I just sat down." He said, taking another swig from his glass before it was taken out of his hand. "Give it back is mine!"

"Oh no you don't Vert, you are drunk. Oh god I need to get this on Video." she said as she turned one of the security cameras in the house to face him. She took a drink and nearly choked. "Holly crap this stuff is strong, where did you get it?"

"Well Mitchell gave me a cup."

"Mitchell...the old man with the firemen's hat?"

"HAY that's him. Nice guy, he had a red face though" He slurred trying to take another drink from the glass not remembering it had been taken away from him just a few moments ago.

Cheza looked at Vert, at the drink, then back to Vert. Oh dear, that man was a alcoholic with a very high tolerance built up over the years. "Have you ever had anything like this before?"

"Well beer mostly but nothing really hard."

"Would you excuse me for a minute." She said with a smile, going over to get her cell phone and looking up Mitchell's sons number. "Hay Lykin can I speak to your father please...yes now...I don't care if he is out of it...PUT...HIM..ON!" She growled into the phone and waited for a while. "Hello fire chief Mitchell, yes its Cheza I have a question for you. You know my friend Vert...yes the one with blond hair...yes I know he looks dashing what I...What drink did you give him." She waited, her face blanching, then losing its color. "You gave him a cup full of Spirytus Polish Vodka 192 Proof alcohol, you know he has never drank anything harder then beer right...oh shit is right!" She yelled into her phone. "I DONT CARE IF YOU WERE THANKING HIM, YOU DONT GIVE ANYONE DRINKS LIKE THAT MUCH LESS PEOPLE MY AGE...I DONT CARE IF YOU THOUGHT HE WAS OLD ENOUGH IF HE DOSNT HAVE GRAY HAIR THEN HE IS TO YOUNG! Now I have to watch him and make sure he doesn't loose conciseness all...night...long." She sighed as she hung up the phone and went over to sit next to Vert as he was looking at his hands. "Vert, I have some bad news. You were given some of the strongest alcohol in the world. You may get alcohol poisoning and you are shit faced right now."

"Cool."

"No...bad Vert, you may die if you get alcohol poisoning."

"OK not cool. So what do we do sweetie?"

"Sweetie? Oh god I am to sober for this. Start singing it's a small world and I will be back. Don't stop until I come back." She said getting up, taking the glass of Spirytus Polish Vodka 192 Proof and chugging the rest of it. She had had some food as well so she felt she would be ok. It would probably get her buzzed. She had a higher metabolism then practically everyone she knew thanks to her father.

She went upstairs and put on her short shorts and a green tank top and headed back downstairs. The entire time Vert was singing, very off key, it's a small world. Once she sat back down with a strongbow and a big glass of water for Vert he stopped. "So what now?"

"We talk until you sober up."

"About what?"

"How about this, since you probably won't remember this, you tell me what you lost control of with me and I will tell you about James."

"You promise?" He said, making a pouty face. It was very cute and it took all of her strength not to squeal at his face.

"I promise."

"Pinky swear?" He asked, extending his pinky.

She sighed and wrapped her pinky around his, their faces very close. "Pinky promise."

"You really do have beautiful eyes."

"You go first." she said as she was just feeling the effects of the alcohol on her cheeks.

"Well let's start with, I use to be a major man whore."

At this Cheza spewed all of the drink she had in her mouth all over the floor before gasping for breath. "Oh my god Vert, don't joke about things like that."

"I wasn't joking." He said, looking at her. He looked almost like his normal self except his pulps were overly dilated.

"Wow...I...I never would have expected that from you."

"I know, it's a part of my past I am very ashamed about. When my dad disappeared, I was 14 as well. My mom had already died so it was just me and my dad. I never told anyone that my dad was dead. I was kind of use to doing things on my own. But with the absence of both my parents...it was a hole that was hard to fill so I distracted myself with girls. Mainly one night stands but in a place like Handlers Corner it's hard to keep that up without having repeats. I made sure I wore protection so nothing would come from it but still I just kept going. Every time I finished I would leave and have to be alone again, so I would come back days later for another round just for the few hours of forgetting. After about 4 years of that I knew how to please the ladies well."

"Dang I can fathom, 4 years of it, did you have a nickname?"

"Yah Mike Midnight."

"Wow...ok I am still to sober for this." she said, getting a glass of Desarono. "Ok, continue."

"Well there was this one girl who proclaimed me her boo, and there have been a few who did that but after I talked to them and told them I was not interested in any commitment they would stop. But this girl was crazy. She said that I was hers and that if I stopped having sex with her she would kill herself."

"Power play, toping from the bottom so to speak."

"How did you know that."

"I read...a lot...of fanfiction" She said, smiling shyly.

"Wow the things you don't know about a person until you get drunk." He said taking a sip of water. "Ok well she was the last person I had sex with. And to be honest I didn't care until that night. When I was plowing into her...I felt nothing. I felt alone, and not just the alone with no one around. You know when you are in a room full of people and they ignore you and act like you are not there. I felt that kind of alone and I hated it because the pain came back. The pain I had been trying to forget. That was the reason I became a man whore, to push away the emptiness and pain of being alone, even if it was just for a few hours. But with her, Victoria, that feeling of being alone and the pain of it was right there, staring me in the face the entire time. So I decided I would never have sex again until I found the one girl, no the one woman that would make my life worthwhile. Never being alone, me needing her and her needing me. We could talk for hours and yet at the same time we could sit in silence and it would be fine and we would not feel alone. So for two years I didn't have sex. I didn't even get the itch to have sex with anyone until Agura came. I was able to ignore that itch, enough to just keep going and not let it affect me." He said, taking another drink and belching. "And then you came along."

"Me?"

"Yes you. When we drove up to you and I got out of the Saber and really looked at you. Your flowing firey hair, your posture, and then your eyes, I could see myself in your eyes. Eyes that had seen and experienced more in their life than one would like, I felt a different kind of itch really, almost like a longing. I thought it was the longing of just having sex again, kind of like with Agura, so I ignored it. It actually wasn't until I saw you in civilian clothes that the longing became a full blown desire, an itch I just couldn't get rid of, and I hated it. And then I was able to observe you as a person. You were so thoughtful and kind to everyone, but you wouldn't let anyone push you around like Simon. I loved how you verbally bitch slapped him and just walked away. You should have seen the look on his face. You are beautiful on the outside and radiant on the inside. The moves you do in the battle zones are calculated and you always think of the team. But you never think of your own safety and it makes me so angry that you would think your life is worth nothing. 2 years I had been fine then this red haired green eyes temptress comes into my life and just throws all the self control I had built up out the window at high speed."

"Oh...so you found me attractive?" She said, her face red with drink now, her mind a little fuzzy.

"Attractive, that is an understatement actually. Please don't take this the wrong way, but you are one of the most sexiest women I have ever seen. I thought Agura was beautiful but you...gah" He said in a huff, placing his face in his hands. "The subtle curve to your cleavage, the way you walk and your hips sway, and you gorges ass. Every time I look at thoughts mounds I just want to squeeze them and feel them and...ok hold on" he said, placing his face in his hands again.

"A little to much for you?" she teased.

"Don't tempt me. Please don't tempt me." he said back, smiling.

Maybe it was the drink, or maybe it was the fact he was trying to be chivalries, but something made her stand up and turn her back to him, wanting him to touch her mounds.

Vert sighed, getting control of himself only to lose it again when he saw her behind facing him and within arm's reach. He just stared, not willing to believe it, but since she was there he reached up and cupped her cheek and squeezed. "Oh my god I was right. Your ass is perfect, just the right amount of firmness and fitness and fluffiness" he said as he began to kneed her cheeks slowly and thoroughly.

Cheza was feeling very warm indeed as he played with her cheeks. She could feel a warm and tight sensation in her abdomen and she couldn't help let out a pleasurefull sound when he started using a hand for each cheek. "I...need to get some water" she said, walking away into the kitchen and splashing some water in her face. She could feel herself sobering up. Maybe James was right, maybe she was a slut. She nearly threw up at the thought that that asshole would be even remotely right about anything about her. She got some more glasses of water and headed back. Vert looked like he was savoring his little fondling experience with her cheeks. She blushed at the thought before she sat down next to him.

"I knew your posterior was perfect, I just knew it. If you couldn't tell I am an ass and hip guy."

"Really I had no idea" she said sounding shocked. Vert gave her a look of mild humor before taking the rest of water from his glass and splashing his face with it.

"Anyway, so that's why I treated you like that and I am sorry."

"So...sex every week for 4 years."

"Yes."

"Then you went cold turkey for 2."

"Yes."

"And finally, 2 beautiful females show up in your life?"

"You catch on quick." he sighed.

"Sooooo...I have to say this...sexual frustration?"

"Yup"

"No wonder you were so fierce in battle. I can only imagine how you have dealt with it for the past few months."

"Masturbation, daydreaming, and kicking alien ass."

"I said I can imagine not that I wanted to know."

"Well now you know"

"Wow you are a blunt kind of drunk."

"Yes I am" he said turning to look at her. "Now it's your turn. What's with this James guy?"

"Well" she said, rolling the drink she had in her glass around the rim. "I met him when I was 12 years old. We kind of hit it off fairly fast. My father didn't like it but he never said no to me calling him my boyfriend. He was really sweet during that time. He was always there to help me and he would kiss my hand and open doors for me. He had me and almost everyone else in town fooled. The day I found out my mother and father had died in the fire saving a family with 3 little kids was the day he came to my house. He took me in his arms, he calmed me down. I felt so much pain that when he started touching me I didn't say no. But when he went further by taking off my cloths I told him to stop." She said, looking away from Vert. "He said that he was going to make me feel good and forget about the pain I was feeling at the loss of my parents. I kept telling him no, I tried to fight him off, but I was so weak from my depression and crying all day I couldn't get him off, so I stopped because he wasn't listening and I began to cry, to sob. He was right, I did forget about the pain I felt for my parents, I was feeling an entirely new pain, both physically and emotionally. He told me it always hurts the first time and finished up and then he called me a slut and that he was going to leave me as sloppy seconds for someone else. At that time I felt so alone, even from my friends because everyone knew. He had boasted about it in town by claiming it was consensual. I felt like everyone was avoiding me, and looking down at me, so I ran. I was 14 years old, he was 16."

Vert was quiet the entire time, watching her as she told her story, no emotion, just like she was reading it off a script. He nodded his head and got up, heading for the door, wobbling a little.

"Where are you going."

"To find the fucker and kill him."

"WOH WOH wait Vert, you are in no shape to do that. Besides you will be arrested, I mean he was a man whore as well, like you."

Vert turned on her, grabbed her arms and brought her close to him, his eyes full of anger. "I am nothing like that fucker, all the sex I had WAS consensual, I would never rape someone, I would never have sex after they said no until they said I could continue. What he did was rape you and he needs to pay for it. I hate men like him, taking advantage of women and ruining something that should be cherished."

"Ok ok, maybe he does but not here, and not like this." She said, placing her hand on his shoulder. She could see that he was very bothered by this. She didn't want him to hurt himself. "And for all its worth, I never thought you were like him. I only thought you looked like him."

"God...oh my god no wonder you were scared of me all the time. I am so sorry"

"It's ok Vert" she said, pulling him back into the sitting room and sitting him down at the end of the coffee table. "I know better, you are nothing like him."

Vert growled as he sat down, bringing her down with him and holding her in his arms. He was so gentle with her. "You don't have to worry about him, I will protect you from him, I promise."

Cheza just sat there, her body against Vert's, his arms around her, and when he said he would protect her, her heart started beating a mile a minute. She felt like she was being held by someone...someone who truly cared about her. Like her father did, like her godfather. It was a kind of gentle masculine protection, and it calmed her mind. They sat there for a while in each other's arms before they started talking again. They asked simple questions to get to know each other. From light questions like what was their favorite color to deep questions like what is the meaning of life. Before they knew it the sky was starting to turn dark blue.

"How do you feel Vert?"

"Like my head is going to explode and that its to fucking bright but other than that I think we had a good night." He said, covering his eyes.

"Yah we did, let's get you to bed and get some aspirin in you" She said, handing him a glass and heading for the downstairs room. once in she got him some aspirin, watched him take it, pulled the blinds so he would not get a head ace from the sun, put a bucket on the other side of the bed then closed the door. She finished cleaning up the party. "Good thing we put the food away before the party was over" she said, whipping down everything and making sure everything else was put away before going to her bed and going to sleep faster than you could say sober.


	11. Chapter 10

**Hello my little readers I'm back! It has been hard to find the motivation to post the chapters this year and for that I am sorry, I am going to post my chapters and finish this story dont you worry, if anyone who reads this has been hit by Harvey please know you are in my prayers and I hope you and your family are safe!**

Vert woke the next morning with the worst headache he had ever felt. He knew it was some time after noon when he finally woke up. "My god I can feel my heart beating in my head" he whined, trying to hold his head to keep the room from spinning. He had a swig of water from the glass on the bed side table and walked out of the into the sitting room. "What happened...I can't remember anything." He said as he looked around. The place was empty except for a note on the kitchen table from Cheza saying she was going to be visiting some friends for the day. He remembered the party and being handed a few drinks, then the world seaming to spin and him sitting down. He remembered talking to Cheza but he couldn't remember what about...and something about filming. He looked up and saw one of the security cameras pointing towards the sitting room. He remembered Cheza saying that her mothers computer had the run of the place so he went upstairs and sat down at her desk. There was no password on the computer when he opened it. Navigating to the security section was easy as was pulling up the downstairs cameras. He put a set time, the last time he remembered checking the time and watched from there. He saw himself sitting down, he saw himself acting drunk, he saw Cheza getting really angry, he also saw and heard everything after that. Once finished, his face was bright red and his heart was beating a mile a minute. "I can't believe I did that...and that she let me do that." He could vaguely remember the softness of her posterior on his hands like dough that needed to be kneaded.

"I'm home!" Came Cheza's voice. Vert quickly closed out of the security cameras and went over to the stairs.

"Hay, how was your friends?"

"Good, I spent some time with my girlfriend from middle school. She is a mama now and her kids are so fricking cute!"

"I have to ask this because it's been bugging me. You never went to high school right?"

"Yup."

"How do you know what you know? How did you get your GED?"

"Online courses. It's free."

"Oh."

"I got my GED when I was 17. All A's and I had nothing but AP classes."

"No need to rub it in."

"Sorry, didn't mean to."

"Hay listen...I am sorry for last night."

"What about it."

"Well, grabbing your ass. It was uncalled for and I am sorry."

'You were drunk."

"That's still no excuse not to apologies."

"Well considering I purposefully stood up and turned my back to you, we can let it go."

"Wait you did that on purpose?"

"Well I was a little tipsy myself." she said with a smile. "You really do know how to handle a woman's ass at least."

"Well, the lower half is my specialty." Vert commented back with a sly smile. "And I really did mean what I said."

'About what?"

"About everything. I was a man whore, I slept with a lot of girls, I went cold turkey 2 years ago, I think you are the most sexy woman in the entire world, and I will protect you."

"Wow...you remember everything...from last night" she said, turning her back on him, a little embarrassed.

"Yes, and if I do see James again, I will introduce myself properly with my fist in his face."

Cheza couldn't help but laugh. Everyone she had even known had looked upon her with pity, still did to this day sometimes. Vert on the other had didn't look at her that way. When he looked at her, it was no different than before except with understanding and joy now instead of the glare she got before. When James was mentioned he would look away from her in anger, blaming James for what had happened and she preferred for people to do that. She was slowly getting over it and when people looked at her with pity it was just that much harder to think of herself as strong.

They spent another week at Chelan, just the two of them with Chief or an old friend of Cheza's stopping by. No one had seen James at all during the week, but Cheza knew he was still out there. She knew how much of a psychopath he was and that he would try and find some way to overpower her. Her time with Vert was spent well, ether laughing, talking, or just enjoying the day in silence. She even got him to swim a few times when it was particularly hot outside. She had showed him the pipes under the deck, her favorite spot under the willow tree were there were a few large rocks like chairs in the water that she could sit in and read, she even pulled out her old be-be gun and shot some soda cans filled with water. It was a nice restful week of just spending time together.

"So when do you think we will be allowed to go back to Sage?" Cheza asked.

"I have no idea, no offence or anything but I am starting to get bored. I need some action."

"Uhu, bored, let's go with that." Cheza said, giving him a knowing look. Vert just smiled his half smile while shrugging his shoulders. He put his sunglasses on and lay out on the deck to catch some rays.

"I need to get some vitamin D's while I can." He said as he stretched in the sun like a cat. He had on red swim trunks and nothing else. He had toned abs and nice legs. She just couldn't help but stare. "Like what you see?" He smiled his cocky half smile again, flexing his abbs without even moving.

"Maybe. I would like it more if it didn't belong to someone who was so full of himself." She teased.

"Can't help it if I am just that good" He smiled again, joking back with her.

"Well excuse me while I go back into the cabin for some humble pie, just for you Stanford."

Veri curled into the fetal position "Oh that hurt...a lot. That was a kill shot." He joked before stretching out again. "And I am looking forward to some pie." She rolled her eyes and started heading back to the cabin. When she put her foot on the earth and off the dock though she got the strangest feeling like she was being followed. She looked behind her but she could see that Vert was laying on the deck still. She looked around, nothing. Calming herself down by telling herself she was getting paranoid she went into the cabin and grabbed her homemade apple pie. It was still steaming when she came out. She was about to yell that the pie was finished when she saw that Vert was no longer on the deck but rolling around in the dirt with his look alike who had a knife.

She stared, wanting to help, but all she could do not to panic was breath. She watched as Vert kept punching James but the man would not go down. He got Vert pinned and was about to bring the knife down before he got a face full of pie. James looked up at the retreating form of Cheza and threw the knife at her. She stepped inside and headed to the kitchen just before the knife whizzed in and buried itself right on the wall opposite the front door. If she hadn't moved that knife would have gone into her back. She pressed a button on the wall, signaling that there was an emergency, went into the kitchen, reached up to the top of the fridge and pulled out a hand gun her mother kept as a just in case factor. Cheza had no idea why she had thrown the pie at James, her body had moved, and it was still moving without her even thinking. Like someone else was taking the rains. When she came out Vert was bleeding heavily from a large gash on his shoulder. James was between Vert and the Cabin and he was advancing on Vert, and other knife in his hands.

"You think I am going to let anyone take her like I did? You are so wrong boy. I will pleasure her so much she will forget all about you."

"You are a sick fucker James. She is not property, she is a living person."

"She is mine!" James growled out before being his across the head by a blunt object, the handle of Cheza's gun.

"No I am not. I have never been nor will I ever be yours James Montgomery." She growled out, standing between James and Vert.

"Cheza, what are you doing! He will hurt you." Vert said, trying to get up but the wound was to deep and he had lost a lot of blood.

"Stay down Vert. Help is on the way." She said as she slowed her breathing. For some reason her eye sight was becoming clearer, her sense of smell becoming stronger as well. She could see so many different things that she couldn't before, like the details of the leaves, the slight twitch to James eye as he saw her take her stance and hold her gun up. The scent of Verts' blood, James's sweat, and even the water itself was in the air, she could even smell the animals that were watching them. Things also seems to slow down just a little.

"Huh, you think you can shoot at me? Your lover, the only one who will ever love you." James taunted as he moved closer to them.

"Stop or I will shoot!" She warned, taking the safety off of the gun and placing her finger just above the trigger.

"You're wrong, there are a lot of people who like her, even love her like family. Its evading that you need her, a lot more than she needs you." Vert whispered out.

"Cheza, if you shoot me, I will get very angry. We know what happens when I get angry."

"Yeah. you turn into a fucking bastard, now put the knife on the ground and sit down." She growled out. When he made a step towards her she shot a warning shot next to his foot. "My mother taught me how to shoot, you should remember, you were there." She said, re-aiming for his heart. She saw his hand twitch before he pulled his hand in the air about to throw the knife, already reacting she fired a shot right at his hand. her aim was on point and her bullet hit his hand, causing him to drop the knife and sink to the ground in pain.

'You fucking bitch YOU SHOT ME!"

"I warned you I would, but just like before you didn't listen. I am finished with you James." She said as she heard the sirens of the fire boats and the lake patrol. "After today I will never be afraid of you. You will go to court on two accounts of attempted murder and I will be there to testify against you."

"I WILL NEVER LET YOU GO! YOU ARE MINE!" He yelled as he lunged for her. Everything happened in slow motion for her like some kind of switch had been activated. She stepped to the side as James slowly lunged for her and she punched him in the jaw. Once she punched him time began to move like it had before and James went sailing 5 feet the other way. She pulled up the gun again and aimed it at him, keeping her finger off the trigger.

"Cheza, it's ok, you don't have to hold the gun anymore." Chief said as he jumped down from his boat. She looked over at him then at the gun. She put the gun down and kicked it away, making sure to first put the safety back on it. A few minutes later the rest of the patrol came over, some of them cuffing James and hauling his unconscious body into their boat where they made sure he was restrained while the rest checked Vert. He was still bleeding, the gash coming dangerously close to his artery. They kept him upright and put a lot of pressure on his shoulder, making him cry out in pain. She gave Chief permission to take the security tapes into his custody for the investigation while Cheza went with the rest of the group as they boated Vert to the nearest hospital. He had to be stitched up immediately after making sure his cut was clean. 25 stitches and the doctors were afraid that he would have trouble using his left arm because the muscles were cut as well. Cheza and Vert looked concerned, they knew though that Sage would be able to fix it up when she saw them next. They both spent the next few days in the hospital before he was released and told not to do anything strenuous.

Back at the Cabin, Chief and the other policemen had cleaned up the yard and had even started cleaning out the garden in back. She had never really liked gardening in the beginning but if she was going to call this place her home one day she might as well work the land she had. As soon and she knew Vert was comfortable on the porch swing, she went over to the team of men turning over the dirt to air it out and get the nutreants flowing again.

"So, 25 stitches." Chief said, sitting down on a stool next to the swing.

"Yup. Hurts like a bitch."

"Yah well it will heal. James is in custody and with my report of what I observed and with the security tapes he will be convicted for attempted murder for sure and we will never have to deal with him again."

"Now that is good news. She won't have to keep looking over her shoulder anymore, or running."

"I recon you saw what happened when she punched James right?"

"Yeah, she moved like lightning, I have never seen that before. And her eyes had changed as well, they weren't green they were gold."

"It's her father's blood coming out."

"You mean...the protector?" Vert whispered.

"Yup. Surprised, yet not surprised you know"

"Why now?"

"Probably because she has found something she wants to protect."

"Other than herself."

"You saw how she was when James had her cornered last week, like a deer in the headlights. No she doesn't care about protecting herself."

"Why though, doesn't she feel like she is worth it?!" Vert exclaimed, then winced as his shoulder gave a painful throb.

"It's not her fault Vert. It her heritage, it's in her blood. The Guardians are known for protecting others, that's what makes them strong. That's why every protector had someone they were protecting. When it's just them the protective instinct is never triggered. there is a reason her father died in the fire. Her mother had already died trying to save the three kids, so he finished what she had started and then died with her. He didn't have anyone to protect so his strength and power just switched off."

"But didn't he think about his daughter?!"

"I'm sure he did, thinking how she was safe at home and how she was going to grow up to be a wonderful, beautiful woman."

"But that's...that's stupid. I mean basic instincts should tell him to survive."

"Basic HUMAN instincts yes...unfortunately, even though Lance looked human, he was not a human."

"He wasn't human? But the pictures."

"He was a protector, and Guardian, they shift forms."

Vert paused for a moment, taking the new bit of information in. "So Cheza doesn't normally look like that."

"No she does, she was born this way, she is half human. But her father's blood in her is starting to come alive. They protect others and that's how they get their powers."

"But Cheza is half human!"

"Yes, but she is also half protector, and with what she went thru with James she thinks herself unworthy to survive. On the other hand, she is half protector, and when she saw you in danger the protector instinct kicked in and she finally fought against her past and won. Maybe now she will see her true value."

"We can only hope. That actually explains a lot. Wait how do you know about her heritage?"

"I am her godfather. My family has known her father for generations. You think we wouldn't know what she or he is?"

"Well, if it's been generations I guess not."

"My family knew him when he was more...well more Guardian then human. We wanted to honor him as a deity of great power but he said he was just looking for a safe place to stay, that he was not a god but a protector. My ancestors took him in and treated him like one of our own. Over the years the story of his coming had been passed to legend but each Chief of the tribe is told of who he truly is."

"Wow, that must be a lot to take in when you are told."

"Yes it is, most of us just laugh before he shows us. Myself included. He was my best friend and brother and I was honored to be named godfather to his first born. I miss him, but I know he is still with us, in spirit and in his daughter. As I said before when we first met, I can't protect her like I use to, but you can."

"And I will, you have my word."

"It eases my old sole to know she is cared for by people other than her family. And I know you are good for each other."

"What?"

"Nothing, just an old man spouting nonsense."

"I am going to go out on a pretty big limb and call shenanigans."

Chief burst out laughing, banging his fist on the sill of the porch. "Smart of you, Kid."

"What do you know that you're not telling us?"

"Can't say, because it could change."

"What could change."

"If you have to ask." He said, getting up and handing Vert a bottle of beer. "You'll never know."

"You keep saying he shifted, what did he change into?"

Chief took a swig of his beer, savoring the taste before he answered. "I can't tell you, I made a promise that I would never speak of that form. You have to be told, or be shown by her."

"What's going on over here?" Cheza said, trying to brush the dirt off of her hands.

"Nothing, just guy talk." Chief said before taking her place in the field, letting her and Vert have some time together.

"You are shipping them aren't you." Jeff asked, handing the Chief a rake.

"Oh I sure am. And I know I am not the only one." Several nopes were issued from his officers as they continued to work the land.

"Your godfather is an odd man."

"Yes he is, but I love him for it. He is cryptic all the time so it keeps your mind working."

"Must hurt after a while."

"When you first start out yes." She said with a smile, taking a swig of Verts beer before handing it back to him. "Vert."

"Yes?"

"Thanks for saving me. You didn't have to."

"I made a promise to you that I would protect you, and I never break my promises."

"Well for all its worth, I feel very safe with you, and you have my thanks for that."

"What, no kiss for you valiant knight who got himself injured?"

She smiled at him leaned down so they were face to face, then quickly turned his head and kissed him on the cheek. She then headed inside to get the rest of the guys some water. Where her lips had made contact on his skin, tingled. Her lips were soft and he enjoyed the sensation of them. Just then his comlink beeped as Sage informed him that he and Cheza could return and that the battle key they had had been reactivated. He sighed, a little disappointed that they were free to go back. He was going to miss this place a lot, but the world needed to be kept safe and he had to do what was right.

 **Tada! On to the next chapter!**


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